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M94 (Magic stove dial invisible siblings) is M FOR MISCHIEF by Richard Parker, ill. by Charles Greer 1966. I read this book over and over and am lucky enough to still own my childhood copy, so I am pretty positive this is the one.  ~from a librarian
More on the suggested title M for Mischief by Richard Parker, illustrated by Charles Geer, published by Duell 1966, 90 pages "Three children, two girls and a boy, who have just moved into an unexciting old house, find an ancient rusty stove, complete with its own baffling cookbook, hidden away in a long-neglected summerhouse. Two settings on a dial - O for "Ordinary" and M for "Mischief" take the place of the usual oven gauge. Life grows hilariously complicated for everyone in the family when the children experiment with the recipe for boiled eggs which will render the eater invisible. But

Shoberg, Lore, Machine, McGraw-Hill (1973).  Card catalog description:  A boy becomes worried when the machine he receives from a TV celebrity keeps growing and the people in the city want to make it king.  ISBN: 0070569886
I saw the listing for my book query today and was so excited to find the book had already been identified. Thank you so much for your help. My 2 1/2 year old son is enamoured with all things mechanical (he already knows the names of most construction vehicles and calls out their names when we pass road crews; "backhoe, pay-loader, grader!").  My wife and I don't know where he gets this (we're a couple of book-nerd professors at the U of Utah); but when he recently become enthusiastic about robots, too--I thought, 'here's my chance to share with him a book I loved from my childhood.' I just couldn't for the life of me remember the author's name (and searching under "Machine" or "Robot" was returning thousands of hits). I had all but given up hope when I found Loganberry books and you. I am so grateful to you. This will be such a wonderful xmas present (for both my son and me). Thanks again and happiest of holidays.

Primers featuring Jeff, Mary, and Mike should appear under the heading "Macmillan Reading Program preprimers."  The three books definitely in the Jeff, Mary, and Mike series are Opening Books, A Magic Box, and Things You See, all by Mae Clark and all published by Macmillan in 1965 in softcover, and in 1970 possibly in hardcover.  These three are all classified as "preprimers."  Another, Lands of Pleasure, is classified as a "first primer," but I don't know if it also features the same characters or is a regular textbook with poems and stories, as are some of the other ten books I found listed under this author and publisher.  One book of Mae Clark's I would be interested in which is not Jeff, Mary, and Mike is Worlds of Wonder.  It seems to be Book #1 in the "California State Series."  You might make another heading for "California State Series, School Readers" and list Worlds of Wonder, Book 1(?), Much Majesty, Book 4, First Splendor, Book 5, and Wider Than the Sky, Book 6, and maybe someone will know what Books 2 and 3 are and I can put together the set.
The entry under Macmillan Reading Program in your "solved" section seems to indicate that someone would like more information about these books. When I started teaching first grade in 1968 we used this series of readers. Opening Books was preprimer1, A Magic Box was preprimer2, and Things You See was preprimer3. The next book in the series was Worlds of Wonder and it was called the primer. That book was followed by Lands of Pleasure which was the first reader. Children who did well in school would be expected to go through all of these books in first grade. I have the second grade books from this series also; one of them is called Enchanted Gates. There were 2 books for second grade (teachers referred to them as the 2-1 and 2-2 books). There were also 2 books for third grade. There was just one book each for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.  One thing i liked about these books was that each title was a phrase from a poem about books and reading; the poem would be printed before the title page of the book.

Sounds like Bertrand Brinley's The Mad Scientists' Club from the early 1960s. It was followed by The New
Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club and, in the 1970s, The Big Kerplop - which is a prequel written in
novel form. (That one is not so terrific.) The illustrator was perfectly chosen. The Club is made up of 7 boys aged 12 to 15 or so, and they get involved in all sorts of hijinks with the help of all sorts of WWII surplus electronic equipment that they collect. (Examples: gas balloon race, long-lost fortune, "high-tech" prank at the mayor's speech, night rescue of a downed pilot, a cleverly "haunted" house, bank robbers, submarine, "flying saucer", rainmaking, and kidnappings by the rival club.) They are all out of print, but the reviews at you-know-what dot com are many and passionate - the first two books ARE very funny and you may have to read them first so you won't burst out laughing with every other page when reading to your kids! While somewhat socially dated, as you
might expect, they are very much worth it and a fascinating look at what kids could (sometimes) really do even before the computer age (though Henry does, in the first story of NAotMSC, reveal that he has a homemade computer!) I often wonder just where it's supposed to be - it's very rural and you know from one story that they're in a Yankee state, but my guess is it's not in New England, anyway.
Probably the Mad Scientists' Club or the New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club by Betrand R. Brinley.  I know there is a fake monster in the lake chapter in one of those two books.
yes, I'd love to get all three of the Mad Scientist Club books.  Just let me know.

Brink, Carol Ryrie, Madamoiselle Misfortune

This looks like the same book as M 68: The Maggie B by Irene Haas.  It's recently been reprinted and is an adorable book.
I'm the author of G48 and am pleased to say that, yes indeed, The Maggie B. (same as M68) was indeed the book I was looking for!  I checked it out of the library and have shared it with my daughter and she loves it too!  As a matter of fact I've read it with all my mom friends as well and have told them about this wonderful site.  Thank you very much for solving my querry!
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I read the book to my kids in the late seventies, early eighties.It was a paperback and belonged to my younger brother. It was a picture book story about a little girl, Maggie and her baby brother, who she cared for on their little boat. Actually, I think that "The Maggie B." may have been the name of their boat.  She kept a goat, a little garden and fished from her boat. A sweet book.  Can you help me find it, or more info. about who wrote it, etc.?  Thanks for your help.

I was just browsing through your website, when I came across this "unsolved mystery": "M61: Maggie B."
I think I know the title of the book -- it's simply called The Maggie B. by Irene Haas; it was recently reprinted (Aladdin Picture Books). Hope this helps!
M61 is The Maggie B by Irene Haas.  A *great* book.
This does sound like The Maggie B, by Irene Haas (on Solved list) published New York, Atheneum 1975, reprinted various times, 32 pages. "Before sleep one night, Margaret Barnstable wishes for a ship named for herself. The next morning she awakes on the Maggie B. and the adventure begins! The ship has a garden growing on it, and she cooks and cares for herself and baby brother James. Full color paintings loaded with detail."  See also G48 Girl on boat
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I am desperately searching for a children's picture book my mom read to me as a child, probably published in the 70's, - seems thre was a child with his/her grandma out to sea on a ship ...I think they caught crab or lobster and cooked and had warm cozy dinners in the cabin of the boat - I think there were descriptons of food and smells? ...may have been a storm, but I can't quite remember - this book reminds me of warm, cozy, safe memories...Please help me find it once again!:)

The Maggie B. This book may be The Maggie B., although that is about a girl and her baby brother - no grandmother. The girl does catch and cook their dinner and there is a storm - but they are snug inside and the ship rides it out safely. Definitely a strong feeling of comfort and safety. My daughter & I love this story. I bought it for my daughter in the 80's, but I think it may be back in print.
Irene Haas, The Maggie B, 1975. I think this must be The Maggie B. -- maybe you thought of a grandmother because the illustrations of little Maggie show her wearing an old-fashioned dress and apron, with a kerchief on her head (and of course she does all those grown-up things like cook the lobster stew and bake the muffins, and lash down the ship against the storm).
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1970s, illustrated.  Girl lives on small boat.  She's alone, except for animals (including a caged parrot).  Smooth sailing for a while, but then a storm hits.  Girl gathers animals in cabin; all are warm and cozy inside as girl prepares dinner.

Irene Haas, The Maggie B.   This is one of my favorite books! "A little girl's wish to sail for a day on a boat named for her "with someone nice for company" comes true. Maggie's little brother is that "someone nice" and the two of them spend the day on their little boat living the sea life. The boat is fully equipped with an apple, peach and orange tree bearing fruit (and a beautiful toucan). There is an abundance of fresh eggs and milk to be had from various chickens and the goat. Maggie herself fishes and serves up sumptuous meals of lobster and peaches with cinnamon and honey for dessert. The day is simple and homey, the only real source of concern a thunderstorm that crashes and booms towards the end of the day. Even then, Maggie thoughtfully battens down the hatches and plays her fiddle to her brother, tucked snugly in his bed."
Irene Haas, The Maggie B.  Yes, this is the book!  Thirty years muddled a few specifics (toucan/parrot, I forgot the little brother), but your description has rekindled the memories.  For weeks after first reading of them, I was absolutely relentless in bothering my mother to make peaches and cinnamon.  Outstanding - thanks so much!

Mary Grannan, Maggie Muggins.  Several others in series e.g. More Maggie Muggins, Maggie Muggins and Benny Bear, The Wonderful World of Maggie Muggins, Maggie Muggins in the Meadow, etc.
Mary Grannan, Maggie Muggins series.  Maggie Muggins and Her Animal Friends (1959), Maggie Muggins Again (1949), Maggie Muggins and Benny Bear (1962), Maggie Muggins and the Cottontail (1960), Maggie Muggins in the Meadow (1956), More Maggie Muggins (1959), New Maggie Muggins Stories (1947), Maggie Muggins and the Fieldmouse (1959), Maggie Muggins by the Sea (1959).

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Grannan, Mary.   Maggie Muggins and Her Animal Friends.  Illustrated by Bernard Zalusky.  Pennington Press, 1959.  Dust jacket frayed at extremities, otherwise a nice copy.  VG/G+.  <SOLD>

M71 - could this be Nicholas Stuart GrayThe Applestone ? Some similarities.
I have to say, the only similarity with The Apple Stone is the size of the item. Gray's book contains no aliens, no force-fields, no blue. Instead, the Apple Stone is golden and speaks for itself, instructing the group of children how to use it. This book sounds more American than English, and more science fiction than fantasy.
Maybe Carl Biemiller's Magic Ball from Mars New York, Morrow, 1953?
M83 and M71 seem to be asking about the same book.  Not that that helps either searcher much.
M71 and M83:  Carl Biemiller, The Magic Ball from Mars
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I remember this book from the mid fifties.  It was an adventure story about a boy who finds a marble that turns out to be magic.  Not sure about title, author.  What a fun site to reminisce about the books we loved.  Another favorite of mine was The Book of Live Dolls.
Magic Ball from Mars, by Carl L. Biemiller, illustrated by Kathleen Voute, published Morrow 1953, 127 pages. "An amusing bit of science fiction about Johnny Jenks' adventures with a mysteriously glowing ball of 'marsquartz' given him by a kindly man from 'Out There' who comes to Earth in a flying saucer. Johnny's visit to the Pentagon to show the ball to the authorities and his subsequent kidnapping are lively enough adventures." (HB Oct/53 p.360)
I tripped over your site and noted with interest that my father's book, The Magic Ball From Mars, was the subject of one of your stumper questions. About a year and a half ago, I developed a web site devoted to Dad's books and getting them back in print. This link to, "The Magical Stories of Carl L. Biemiller" may be of some help to your project.  The Magic Ball From Mars should make it back in print this Fall as part of a Forrest Ackerman "Martianthology" to be published by The Sense of Wonder Press.  Funny how projects and web sites grow.  I'm still learning.

A couple of possibilities:  The Magic Bicycle  the story of a bicycle that found a boy / John Bibee /1983/ "The Spirit Flyer, a rusty old bicycle found in the city dump, surprises its new owner, John Kramar, when it magically lives up to its name, introducing John to an unknown world and changing his life for good."  Or maybe The Fabulous Flying Bicycle / Glen Dines / 1960/ (I think this is the one with the ice cream man, but I'm not sure)
Bibee, John, The Magic Bicycle: the story of a bicycle that found a boy, 1983.  Sounds like the first book in the Christian-fantasy "Spirit Flyer" series.  Young John Kramer finds a rusty old bicycle in the city dump and discovers that it can fly.  This ends up bringing him into conflict with the boys in the Cobra Club, who represent the evil Goliath toy company.  There are at least eight books in the series - sequels include "The Toy Campaign", "The Only Game in Town", "Bicycle Hills", "The Last Christmas", "The Runaway Parents", "The Perfect Star" and "The Journey of Wishes".
MICHAEL AVI-YONAH , No More Magic, 1975.  1990 re-issue.  Matches poster's details. If this helps: Bike is lost when left out on Halloween. Dad is a librarian.

Could the "box of candy" possibly be Masefield's Box of Delights? Just a thought.
I just wanted to drop you a short note to say that M130b is NOT Masefield's Box of Delights.
more info about the story: the story's main character is a young girl, who when she goes to bed each night can chose two candies from the box, if she takes more the box will emply, if she takes only two, the box will magically re-fill.
Found- Magic Bonbons by L. Frank Baum. But the candies do not refill-rather each different color bestows special talent on the eater.(musical talent,etc.) Little girl starts playing Beethoven! Story is found in the Bobbs-Merrill Best in Children's Literature set-The book: Beyond the Horizon. (authors: Smith,Hart,Baker)

Maurice Dolbier, The magic bus, 1948.  The story of what was an ordinary bus until a little boy discovered the gold button on its dashboard...and then the most exciting things happened!
Maurice Dolbier, The Magic Bus,1948. "This bus was just an ordinary bus until a little boy discovered the gold button on the dashboard and then the most exciting things happened. The cover has a picture of the magic bus flying through the sky with the children looking out the window."

various, Best in Children's Books.  1960s.  This series of children's books was one of my all time favorites as a child.  They are published by Nelson Doubleday, Inc.  I don't know which one has the stories mentioned but I'm absolutely sure of the publisher and series because I have it - just can't find it right now!  I found another in the series to get the publisher info.
Or could it have been a set of The Children's Hour?  You can read the contents of the 1953 edition online here, and the books do include Mr. Murdle and Gudbrand.
C394  Mr Murdle has been included in more than one book. The ff  website lists in detail the contents of 42 vols of Best in Children's books. Vol 40 has Mr M but none of the other titles being sought
I have researched the Best In Children's Books and, while the stories listed here are scattered among their collection, they are not the solution to my stumper.  I truly appreciate the knowledgeable input from everyone who is attempting to help me.  It is amazing that I remember everything about this book but its title and its cover.  One thing that I remember is that it was a discontinued, school-issued anthology textbook, and not part of a store-bought, or bedtime collection.  All of the stories that I have listed, (plus the recently recalled There Once Was A Puffin,) were contained in one book.  This book and Over A City Bridge were the only two anthologies in the house where I grew up.
This is Magic Carpet by Eleanor Johnson and Leland Jacobs. (Charles Merrill-1954) It is part of the Treasury of Literature- Readtext Series. All the stories match and many, many more. A wonderful school text.

Lee Kingman, The Magic Christmas Tree, 1956, copyright.  This story matches the poster's description exactly.  By the way, it was reprinted in American Girl Magazine in the November/December 1996 issue.
YAY!!!!!!!!!! You guys are awesome.  I found out the title and just ordered a copy from Alibris.  THANK YOU!!!

Christopher Logue, The Magic Circus, 1979.  I stumbled on this while browsing the internet.  I hope this is your book.  Christopher Logue, Illustrated by Wayne Anderson, The Magic Circus  London: Jonathan Cape, 1979 Hard Cover. ISBN:0-224-01555-9. Book about The Magic Circus, a group of bizzare circus people who meet a man who hates circuses (Dr. Growser).  Cover has a mouse balancing a unicycle on a tightrope.
HURRAY!!!!!!! I just looked this up and indeed The Magic Circus is the book I was looking for! It has been about 25 years since I have set eyes on it, and that cover is just as freaky as I remember! Cant wait to get my copy!

C42- The Magic Clown (Treasure Books #876)
A little more on the suggested title: Sutton, Felix Magic Clown (A Treasure Book) NY Treasure Books, 1954, 8vo; color illustrations by James Schucker, 28 pages. "Join that famous TV show character Magic Clown and his puppet Laffy"

Could it be Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field? But there's only one doll...
The second book must be Magic Elizabeth by - oh darn, the book is upstairs right now, so I can't check the author - it is actually only one doll, but has two main girl characters - one in modern day and one in the past - the modern day girl has to stay with her aunt and while in the attic discovers a diary about a girl in the past with a doll named Elizabeth who gets lost one Christmas Eve and isn't ever found. The modern girl dresses up in the old clothes from the chest and, with the help of an old mirror, is transported back in time to the life of the other girl where she relives the entire experience of having and then losing her doll Elizabeth - the modern day girl's goal becomes finding lost Elizabeth.
Kassirer, Norma.  Magic Elizabeth. Scholastic, Inc., 1966.  Young Sally while staying in creepy old house with her Aunt Sarah, tries to find an old doll named Elizabeth. B&W Illustrations by Joe Krush.
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Love your site!  I'm looking for a book about a girl (around 12) who is sent to live with her stern maiden aunt for a summer.  I think the aunt's name is Sarah, and she's incredibly stuffy.  This girl starts rooting around in the attic and finds a diary, some clothing, a doll, etc. of a girl named Sally and eventually comes to believe either that she *is* Sally reincarnated, or haunted by her ghost.  In the end it turns out that Aunt Sarah was Sally.  Any help would surely be appreciated.

S64 is Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer.  My copy has the title page torn out, so I don't know the year, but it's a pretty common Scholastic Book Services title. Elizabeth is the doll's name.
S64 Stern Aunt Sarah:  This is MAGIC ELIZABETH by Norma Kassirer, and it is listed on your solved
stumpers page and may appear on most requested page too. It was recently republished.
The book you're thinking of is called "Magic Elizabeth".  I don't know the author, but I know it had wonderful illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush.  The story was of Sally, who went to stay at an elderly aunt's house and finds in the bedroom allotted to her a portrait of a little girl her age who looks just like her, holding a wonderful doll.  Aunt Sarah tells Sally that the doll's name was Elizabeth and the girl's name was Sally also.  Through the book, Sally gets to know and love old Aunt Sarah and her black cat Shadow and has dreams in which she experiences going back in time to be the other Sally.  She wants to find Elizabeth, whom Aunt Sarah says disappeared a long time ago.  Finally Shadow finds the doll and Sally finds out that the other Sally was her Aunt Sarah and the doll was hers.  A favorite book of mine and of my daughter's, who I believe has it now which is why I can't put my hands on the author's name.
S64 has got to be Magic Elizabeth, by Norma Kassirer "A grumpy aunt, a black cat, a spooky old house, and a doll named Magic Elizabeth," says the front cover. The aunt is named Sarah, and the little girl is named Sally.
Thanks for the answer!  I'm thinking about this book as a gift for a neighbor girl for her birthday later in the year.  If I can't find it locally, I'll turn right to you.  I appreciate the service you provide.  Your website is a lot of fun and brings back tons of good memories!
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i read a book when i was a child in about 5th grade. that would be around 1969, a young girl spends the summer with her cranky, aged aunt who hates children. while there, the young girl goes into the attic and finds some victorian clothing just right for a girl her age. she puts on the clothing and eventually falls asleep. in her dreams she goes back in time to become her aunt as a child  and is able to locate the beloved lost doll her aunt had lost as a child when she finally wakes up out of her time travel dream, for it is the same house her aunt lived in as a child. i dont know the title of this book but i would love to read it again. i have been all over the net looking to find it. thank you.

I think this one is Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. The little girl goes to stay with her a grandmother, not an aunt, but otherwise the details seem to match.
I think both G66 and T101 are thinking of Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. It appears on your Solved Stumpers page, and it was recently republished. ~from a librarian
Sounds like Magic Elizabeth to me!
A few years ago, on a fluke after I happened to find your website, I entered a request for a search on a book I had read as a 5th grader in 1969 and had loved very much..  Forgetting about the website, about 4 years went by and just this week, I happened to fall upon it again. lo and behold! you had found my book, allthough i havent a clue when.  Not even knowing the name of the cherished book, I soon found out it was called, MAGIC ELIZABETH. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that because I just came home today to find it on my computer desk, a gift from my husband. I have never forgotten how much I had loved this book. It will always be a treasure to me.  thank you.
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Someone has asked me to help identify a story with a secret garden with a character in it named Elspeth.  The person has read the Burnett Secret Garden and that is not it.

I have a suggested book for your stumper, Mandy, by Julie Edwards, published in 1971.  The description calls it an "enchanting bestseller in the tradition of The Secret Garden.  Ten-year-old Mandy lived in a lovely orphanage where the kind Matron Bridie looked after her well.  The good houskeeper, Ellie, slipped her special treats from the kitchen. Mandy was happy, but nothing Mandy had was hers alone.  Until that magical day when she climbed the stone wall at the bottom of the orchard, followed a little path through the forest and found the most beautiful deserted, small cottage, sitting in the sunlight, as if it were smiling at her."  I only read this once, years ago. I don't know if Ellie was ever referred to as Elspeth, but it's worth a look if the date is right.
Not too likely, but there's Nobody's Garden by Cordelia Jones, illustrated by Victor Ambrus, published NY Scribner 1966, 190 pages. Outgoing Hilary Toft decides to make friends with sullen, withdrawn Bridget, whose parents were killed in WWII. They find a common interest in their love for "The Secret Garden" and in recovering the garden of a deserted, bombed-out house, which becomes their own 'secret garden'. No mention of an Elspeth character.
Perhaps ... My Horse Says, by Mary Schroeder, illustrated by P. Stone, published London, Chatto & Windus 1963, 170 pages. "An imaginative story about three children and their widowed mother who have been given notice to quit their home. They start on the difficult search to find another house to rent and Elizabeth (the youngest), who is visited by a make-believe horse when she is alone, insists that they follow the instructions given to her by the horse. These lead eventually to an old deserted house in a walled garden. This was once the home of the squire, but it holds so many sad memories for him that he will not live in it himself or let it to anyone else. The children find an ally in the squire's sister and they are allowed to restore the garden to its former beauty. In time they get their wish and the house is theirs." (Junior Bookshelf Jan/63 p.26) The latter part of the plot is similar to The Secret Garden and Elizabeth is a similar name to Elspeth ...
Perhaps, it is Elizabeth and her German Garden, the first book by Marie Annette Beauchamp--known all her life as "Elizabeth", originally published in 1898. It starts like a diary. It is freely downloadable.
Hi - don't know how much this will help (or how old the question is!) but I think I know the answer to the above stumper.  The book sounds like Ginnie and the Mystery Doll. There is a secondary character named Elspeth, whom Ginnie befriends while staying at her crabby elderly auntie's house. Together Ginnie and Elspeth try to discover the whereabouts of a lost doll mentioned in an old diary.
Hi there - I made a mistake earlier! The book in questions is, I believe, Magic Elizabeth, by Norma Kassirer, as referenced in your #T101. I had the general plot right, but the wrong book.  It's even still in print.  Here's a short summary: Eight-year-old Sally faces an entire summer trapped in a creepy old house with no one for company but her spooky Aunt Sarah and a black cat named Shadow. But soon Sally uncovers a mystery about a beautiful old doll in a portrait -- and a little girl who looks just like Sally herself! In search of clues, Sally is drawn toward the attic and the old mirror that sits there. And when she looks into it, something magical happens....
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Probably close to 30 years ago there was a childrens book that I read at school.  It was kind of a scary mystery about a girl who went to visit her Aunt or her Grandma, and while she was there she found a doll in the attic in a trunk.  The doll had special powers.  I don't recall the doll being evil or anything . . .but I remember that it was a fabulous mystery.  Can you help me locate this story?

A common theme....  Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy?  Rachel Field, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years?  Checked Solved Mysteries for details.  (More likely the former.)
I've checked several of the options, Hitty and Behind the Attic wall, but neither were the one I was thinking of.  Additionally it came to me that either the girls name or the dolls name may have been Elizabeth.  I also checked the solved stories for that name - but couldn't find it there either.  Thank you so much for the assistance in trying to find this book.
Could this be Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer?
So many hidden dolls...some titles you might try:  Ruth M. Arthur, A Candle in her Room, 1966.  Very scary.  The doll's name is Dido, and it tries to control the girl who finds it.  Janet Lunn, Twin Spell, 1969.  This one has twins, a hidden doll, a missing doll, and an angry ghost. Jacqueline Jackson, Missing Melinda, 1967.  More twins, another missing doll, found in an attic, but not scary.  More of a treasure hunt mystery.  If it has an old-fashioned feel, it could be one of Rumer Godden's doll books, and I think Mary C. Jane had a missing doll book as well.  The others mentioned might be it as well...especially Magic Elizabeth, which is a wonderful story.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. Magic Elizabeth, that's it!  I've found a copy and the front cover is exactly the same as I remember now.  Thank you so much!!  I'm buying the copy for my 11 year old niece so she can enjoy it to.  Thanks again!
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1960's-70s. I can remember everything so vividly EXCEPT for the important parts:  The title & author!  A child goes to stay with their Aunt who lives in New York City {I believe} in the only Victorian house remaining on the block, surrounded by apartment buildings.  The child is frightened at first thinking the aunt who has a black cat, is a witch.  Also remember a player-type of piano.  The child while playing on an old sled in the carriage house is somehow transported back to the Victorian Era.  I believe it was the sled that was magical but it could have been an old diary perhaps??  I really loved this book & remember reading it around the time that, "The Wednesday Witch" was popular.  Thanks so much!!

Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth, 1966. I'm pretty sure this is the book you are thinking about.  Sally has to go stay with her aunt who lives in old Victorian house.  She finds a diary of a little girl who use to live in the house and lost her favorite doll.  Sally has dreams that correspond to events in the diary.  One includes a sleigh ride.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth. See solved stumpers!
kassirer, norma , Magic Elizabeth. One of my favorites! I recognized the storyline right away. Sally must stay with her Great Aunt Sarah while her parents and usual caregiver are away. At first she is frightened of her aunt, but is won over as she becomes fascinated by the "mystery" of a lost doll,  named Elizabeth, and is transported back in time.
Magic Elizabeth.Your details aren't bang-on but they're close enough that this must be the book--sorry it is so hard to find, I'd like a copy myself! Sal goes to stay with her Aunt Sarah and finds out about a doll, Elizabeth, that had been lost in the house years before.  She keeps having dreams about going back in time, and eventually she and the aunt's cat find the doll. The "player piano" is a melodeon in the parlor.
Norma Kassirer, Magic Elizabeth, 1966. Sounds like this could be the book because Sally, whose parents are out of town, goes to stay with her Great-aunt Sarah at her large and scary-looking old house which is surrounded by apartment buildings.  Sally discovers that when she looks into a wall mirror, she sees another girl from the early 1900s, also named Sally, who lived in the house then.  She also discovers her diary in the attic.
etc.

Miriam Blanter Huber & Frank Seely Salisbury, Magic Everywhere. Thanks, I found the book I was looking for via the Book Sleuth forum.  The seller confirmed with pictures.

B113---sure this isn't The Sign of the Beaver?
B113 boy in wilderness: I don't think this is it, but in The Magic Forest, by Stewart White (first published 1920s, reprinted many times) young Jimmy sleepwalks from a stalled train into the forest, wearing only pajamas and slippers. He is found at the river's edge by canoing Indians who give him native clothes to wear because his are wet through from the snow.

Gladys Baker Bone, The Magic Friend Maker.  A book that sounds exactly like this came up on the Abebooks booksearch board.  It was identified as The Magic Friend Maker by Gladys Baker Bond.
Thanks -- not sure it's the same one, but it sounds like it could be!  I've sent for a copy and will let you know if it's the same story.
Yes, that was the book.  Thanks so much.

Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden.  This is definitely the book!
Gene Stratton-Porter, The Magic Garden, 1927.  "The Magic Garden is about a little boy and girl (Amaryllis) that meet in a beautiful garden and the little girl promises the boy that some day she would meet him there again. He goes off to study the violin in Italy and when he returns he finds the girl in the garden."
Gene Stratton Porter, The Magic Garden.  Whoooooooooooooooooooohooooooooooo!! That's it!! Now, the big question is does Harriet have it? I would prefer to buy it here!!
<yes, sold.  thanks!> really casts them into ludicrous predicaments when they bake cupcakes "for changing someone into a harmless domestic animal"; for while they manage to turn a thoroughly unpleasant neighbor into a lovely brown donkey, they also inadvertently transform their mother into a speckled hen." (Horn Book Jun/66 p.307)
This is a book about I think four children who move to a new neighborhood into a little house that they describe as looking like a shoe box.  Their mother sends them from the house on the moving day complaining that she is allergic to dust and they find this shed in their new back yard with a stove in it.  I believe it is missing a dial, and a strange man comes and brings them a dial with a setting on it that says something like 'magic' on it.  They cook recipes which become magical when they use this setting.  The only magic I remember is that one or all of the
children become invisible.  I can't remember what the conclusion is except that I think the man comes back and takes away the dial.  Please help me find this!!

Jay Williams, The Magic Grandfather, 1979, copyright. Sam is the boy, it's his grandfather that gets stuck in Beta, and the girl is Sam's cousin, Sarah, who finds out at the end that she got Grandpa back through the portal because she's a witch.
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A boy learns to do magic from his grandfather, who goes back in time to a tavern and brings a pewter(?) tankard into the present time (to sell) whenever he needs some money.  The boy must develop his concentration skills, and practices by imagining a brick wall, one brick at a time.

Could this be The Magic Grandfather, by Ruth Chew? or maybe another Chew title? She wrote shortish (100 p+/-) books that got picked up by the book clubs in the 80's.
The Magic Grandfather was actually by Jay Williams, but I haven't read it so I can't tell you whether this is the right book.  Plot of The Magic Grandfather:  "An 11-year-old discovers that not only is his seemingly ne'er-do-well grandfather a bona fide sorcerer but he too may have an untapped talent for magic."
Jay Williams (author), Gail Owens (illustrator), The Magic Grandfather, 1979.  This is definitely the book you're looking for!  Eleven year old Sam Limner accidentally discovers that his seemingly unemployed, unambitious grandfather is actually a powerful enchanter. His grandfather decides to cast a spell over Sam to make him forget what he has learned, but agrees to let Sam witness one spectacular feat of magic first.  (Sam has already seen his grandfather perform some small acts of magic, like mending a broken window, pulling a child's chipped tooth, and repairing a car that won't start.  He also sees his grandfather earn money by transporting a pewter tankard from a tavern in 1790 to a present day antique shop, where he sells it for $100.)  When Grandfather decides to summon a creature from another world, he allows Sam to hold a necessary piece of equipment.  Sam drops the equipment during the spell, and Grandfather is sucked into the other world, where he becomes trapped.  Sam, with the help of his cousin Sarah, decides to rescue his grandfather.  Sam studies his grandfather's magic books and discovers that he has a talent for sorcery that has been obscured because an addiction to television has ruined his powers of imagination and concentration.  He strengthens his imagination by reading a passage from The Wind in the Willows and imagining Badger' kitchen.  He has trouble picturing the kitchen's brick floor, and concentrates so that he can imagine it in detail, brick by brick.  After many mishaps, Sam rescues his grandfather, who acknowledges his talent and promises to help him develop it.  If the author's name sounds familiar, it's because he is also a co-author of the Danny Dunn science fiction series---and he plugs the first book in The Magic Grandfather!  Sam Limner hides his grandfather's magic notebook on his bookshelf between Treasure Island and Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine!

The Magic Grinder, 1975.  Part of the Disney's Wonderful World of Reading series.
Thank you so much for this site! I sent you this stumper and that's absolutely the book I was looking for. If you can, please post my thanks to the person who solved it. I've been looking for that piece of my childhood for years and I'm delighted to finally have the name!

#T105--Two siblings travel with magician:  in some ways this sounds like Mr. Mysterious and Company by Sid Fleischman, only in that book the children were his own, so there would be nothing about picking up or leaving
them.
Hi, my book stumper is #T105, "Two Siblings Travel With Magician," and I am just writing to let you know that the book I'm looking for is definitely NOT Mr. Mysterious and Company -- I checked it out. The details I listed are all very accurate -- I remember the plot clearly, but unfortunately I just blanked on the title. I hope someone is able to figure this one out, as I would love to get my hands on a copy of this great book!! Thanks for all your help.
Good news! I went back to my "childhood" library this weekend and they still have the book - it's called The Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen. Now I just need to locate a copy of it that I can keep (I tried bribing the librarian but to no avail!) Thanks.

On the talking raven or crow, I *think* there was such a creature in Alley Magic, by Mary Calhoun, but as I never finished the book I have no idea if it gave up its powers.
This is really a long shot, but could this be Magic in the Alley by Mary Calhoun? The main character is a girl, with a friend who's a boy, and she reanimates a stuffed crow with magic, which can then talk. At the end of
the book she must decide whether to use her last magic to turn the crow into a real non-magic crow, who will lose the ability to talk. As I said, really a longshot.
I looked this up and found only one expensive ex-library copy, but here's the info:
Calhoun, Mary: Magic in the Alley. New York: Atheneum, 1970.
Oh My! It could be-- as I said all I remember are very vague things. I just remember being really affected by the choice that had to be made...  I will now go out looking for this book. Was Mary Calhoun the author of the Katie John books?? I loved them too & could have read this because of that.
Thank you so much for your help. I love poring over your site & hope to be able to help someone the way you have helped me!

P-43 is, I think, another Ruth Chew book.  It MIGHT be Earthstar Magic, but I'm not sure.
P43 Pigeons Who Were Once Children:  The other person who answered that it was a Ruth Chew book was right on track, but the title is MAGIC IN THE PARK, 1972.
Just wanted to confirm that P43 is definitely Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew. Plot summary: "Jenny and her friend Mike discover a magic tree and an old man who feeds the birds in the park. They discover that the tree moves around and that they can go underground and become birds with the help of the magic beech tree."
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A chapter book was handed down to me in the early 1970's about a brother and sister who discover an old tree in a city park (New York Central Park?), and climbing up through the trunk they are turned into crows.  The setting is in winter.  Thanks for any help!

C230 Sounds like it could be MAGIC IN THE PARK by Ruth Chew, 1972 ~from a librarian
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Fantastic website and idea!  The book I am looking for was probably a scholastic book from the 70's.  I think it was about a girl who moves to the city into an apartment and befriends a boy.  Together they discover a tree in the park that is sometimes there and sometimes not (when it is not there, a man who feeds the animals and keeps them safe in the pockets of his coat is there - he of course turns into the tree).  They learn how to turn into birds (or squirrels - I can't remember which) and then back into humans by eating nuts (I think from that tree).  Any help remembering the title and author is much appreciated!  Thanks.

Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park.  I posted this question last week but think I soon found the answer on your website.  I am pretty sure the book is Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew.  Thanks!
Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew?  What's amazing about her is how she makes writing books for that age level look so easy. She's written about two dozen fantasy books and one non-fantasy book. See Solved Mysteries for her name.
Ruth Chew, Magic in the Park

Mady Lee Chastain, Magic Island,1964.  Every detail matches.  It's an interesting cultural artifact, and a book that couldn't be written today.  Set in the early 1850s,  Barbados is depicted as a beautiful, idyllic place, with the dark shadow of slavery lying upon it nearly unnoticed - although the protagonist, Angel, has relationships with some of the slaves!  My copy is a withdrawn library copy with the usual defects, but no story pages missing.
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i remember really enjoying this book but the details in my mind are sketchy. a few girls were taken on a trip, probably with relatives, to a tropical island.  i remember that there was a friend named dodie, who thought she wasn't included. when informed of the trip, she said, i h-hope you all have a good time, sniffling. and the person taking them on the trip said, why, dodie, dear! and informed her that of course she was going along. i don't know when it was printed, but i read the book in the sixties. thanks.

I've been looking for this book too. For some reason, I think it's by the author of the Best Friends, books, Mary Bard, if that's any help.
I found it!  "There was a muffled sniffling near the door.  It was Dodie putting on her cloak.  "I---I---I hope you all have a wonderful time," she said tearfully.  "Dodie!" cried Aunt Abbie.  "Dodie, dear.  It includes you, too."  From page 45 of Magic Island by Madye Lee Chastain (1964).  Angel Thorne, a sickly ten year old, is sent to stay with her grandfather's boyhood friend.  He decides to send her to Barbados to recuperate, along with his granddaughter Lissa, and her two friends, Emmy and Dodie.  This is the third book Madye Lee Chastain wrote about these girls.  The first, Dark Treasure  (1954), is about Lissa and her cousin Andy, the captain of a clipper ship.  In the second, Emmy Keeps a Promise (1956), Emmy and Lissa encourage a romance between Emmy's sister, Arabel, and Lissa's cousin, Andy.  By the third book, Magic Island, Arabel and Andy are married, and they take Angel, Lissa, Emmy and Dodie to Barbados.  I don't think Dodie ever got her own book!
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I remember reading this book during the sixties. It was about three children- all girls, I think- who were taken on a trip to a tropical island. I think two of them belonged to the same family. The third was named Dodie, and she thought she wasn't invited. She cried, "I hope you all have a very nice time," and then some adult in the romm said, "Why, Dodie! Dodie, DEAR! Of course you are invited too."

Madye Lee Chastain, Magic Island. This is the same book as T104, which has been solved.  It is MAGIC ISLAND, by Madye Lee Chastain.

K1:  this book was called The Key That Fit Fairyland I read it in first grade and we used it for a school play.  I too thought it was a Little Golden Book.
Well, I looked it up and there is no LGB, Wonder or Elf title exactly like that.
There was another series of books in the 1950's that was similar to Little Golden Books called Jolly Books. One of the Jolly Book titles is The Magic Key - perhaps this is the book.
I too had a 20 year search for this book after giving our copy to a doctors office when I was a child. My sister (born in 1949) always held me responsible for losing "her book" so we had a  20 year quest along the east coast to find it. My first bit of luck was finding the cover in an antique shop (near home), the shop owner thought it was cute and that someone might want to frame it. It was a bargain at 5 cents.   It gave us a starting point.  The book is The Magic Key by Mary Francis, illustrated by Sylvia Holland it was published by Jolly Books NY , Avon
Publishing, with a copyright of 1952.  I called my sister in VA for the storyline (since after locating it from a book dealer, I gave it to her for Christmas in 1998). The storyline is, Tommy and his sister are walking through the woods when they find a key on the ground, They look around and notice a hole in a large rock or boulder and when they put the key in, they are transported to a  new place. In this place the toadstools seem to grow (or are they getting smaller?) and as they explore they come across fairies and elves building  tables and benches. They meet the  head elf, Gruffy who asks them how they got there and if they know the magic words. Tommy tells him the only magic words he knows are "by hickory and by dickory" (which happen to be some of "the magic words of the elves" ) and Gruffy takes them off to the Queen Fairy to decide what should be done with them. They go to the biggest tree in the forest and a door opens for them to enter. Once inside they meet the queen and it is decided that the children will have to stay till after the Queen's party. The children get to see the fairy party dresses and Tommy gets to sail in an Oak leaf boat.(about 3 pages from the end of the book is a full page illustration of Tommy in the boat.)  Whoever was asking about this book had a pretty good recollection to remember the boat part. For me it was the fairy party, the toadstools and the Big rock with the keyhole.
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Hi - hope someone can help me find the titles/authors/sources of 2 stories I dimly remember from many years ago.  ...  The other had a child, boy I think, finding a mysterious key which opens a door in an old stone wall - I think a horse and a crow or raven also appear in there somewhere. Anybody out there ever read anything that sounds like these beginnings?  I can't remember anything more than that, and would like to know how the stories finished!

The second story ounds like stumper S69 stone wall holds key to mystery
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, 1911.  Regarding the second part of this request: There are two main boy characters in this story, and a girl- she finds a key to a locked garden, and helps her cousin to discover the real world, after being bed-ridden all his life.  They make friends with Dickon- a boy from the moors or dales, who has a pony and a crow or some other bird.
I think I missed the second part of this one previously.  Also check out The Magic Key on the Solved Mysteries page, that's one that eluded me for a long time since it sounded much like The Secret Garden, but clearly wasn't.
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1955.  This was an illustrated story of a brother and sister who found a gold key in the woods. It opened a tiny door at the base of a large tree, and that led them into fairyland. My memory tells me the illustrations of fairies were wonderful.

The Magic Key by Mary Francis, illustrated by Sylvia Holland,  Jolly Books, 1952. It's on Solved Mysteries.

Took me a moment, but here it is:  Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.  Used copy, VG but lacking locket.  $6 Elizabeth Koda-Callan, The Magic Locket.  Workman Publishing, 1988.  New copy.  $12.95

Key, Alexander, The Magic Meadow, Westminster 1975.  Maybe this one - "The author here writes, as he did in a number of books, of isolated children with extraordinary mental powers. In this fantasy/science fiction tale, five crippled kids, confined to a hospital ward, are about to be separated because the hospital has been condemned -- then one boy discovers that he has the power to teleport them to the beautiful other world that they had conjured up in their imaginations." "Five crippled children in Ward Nine--Brick, Diz Dobie, Princess, Charlie Pill, and Lily Rose--play a game of imagining themselves in another world. Just imagine what happens when one of them finds out he can really take them there." The adult is Mrs. Jackson. Oh yeah, this is it - the first chapter is called The Dandelions.
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow.  Brick, Diz Dobie, Charlie Pill, Lily Rose, and Princess are the Incurables.  They can't move their bodies much but they play the "traveling game" every night and imagine themselves away from Ward Nine.  One night Brick is able to go to their magic meadow and no one believes him when he returns until Nurse Jackson sees a dandelion under his neck.  He is able to transport all of the others to the meadow in the nick of time since their hospital has been condemned and the kids are going to be split up.  Very memorable story.
Thank you, thank you.  Too bad The Magic Meadow is out of print and hard to find.  However, I did find a website to re-read the book online.  What a gem.
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A story about a group of hanicapped children who find a way into a different world (maybe through a construction site?). Once there they notice that they develope psychic powers (and I think their handicap challenges resolve) The stronger (maybe older) children help the other ones to "come over". There are a few back and forth visits until finally they decide to stay. The natives of this new place sing to bring up the sun and everyone communicates telepathically.

Key, Alexander, The Magic Meadow.  Several severely handicapped children in an institution manage to escape by using the power of their minds.  They travel to another place (earth in the future)- the one with the most ability has to make several trips back and forth to bring them all there and he almost doesn't make it.  Their nurse caregiver comes with them and they all start on a wonderful new life.  The people already there do sing to the sun and are welcoming and kind.
My sister just lent me this book and the details match the poster's memories. There is more information on the solved mystery pages.
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow, 1975.  This is definitely the book.  See the Solved Mysteries M page for more information.
Alexander Key, Magic Meadow
Alexander Key, The Magic Meadow, 1975. H196 sounds like it *might* be The Magic Meadow by Alexander Key. "Five crippled children in Ward Nine--Brick, Diz Dobie, Princess, Charlie Pill, and Lily Rose--play a game of imagining themselves in another world. Just imagine what happens when one of them finds out he can really take them there."

Sounds like THE MAGIC OF MILLICENT MUSGRAVE written and illustrated by Brinton Turkle, 1967. A magician gives Millicent a doll instead of a rabbit, and she and her father try to find the magician again.~from a librarian
Brinton Turkle, The Magic of Millicent Musgrave, 1967.  "Turn-of-the-century story of a little girl, a deceitful magician & a doll named Melinda Melee " and "outwitted by a magician who gives her a doll instead of a promised white rabbit, Millicent and her father travel to Paris and London in pursuit of the trickster."
Turkle, Brinton, The magic of Millicent Musgrave, 1967.  Viking Press, written and illustrated by Turkle.  Outwitted by a magician who gives her a doll instead of a promised white rabbit, Millicent and her father travel to Paris and London in pursuit of the trickster.

#H24--Hucka Pucka:  Man, I JUST saw this in a local thrift store!  Was looking at it just before the answer to the "Pot called Peep" stumper was posted.  Looking in the store just now, I couldn't find it, meaning it was probably sold, although things around there do have a funny way of disappearing and reappearing.  Anyhow, it was called something like The Imp in the Pot and was about an imp that took the form of one of those large black three-legged cooking pots.  It was one of those small cheap hardcover easy readers which appeared in profusion in the '60s.  The pot kept jumping around and the imp popping up shouting, "Hucka pucka!"  Seriously weird,
yes.
Junior Bookshelf review again: Patricia Coombs "The Magic Pot" published by World's Work, 1979, 32 pages "The demon who turns into a black iron pot with a 'Hucka-pucka' and robs the rich to feed the appreciative poor, hucka-puckaing off with the rich man in a fine mystery ending ... enchanting two-colour crayon illustrations in fine red frames ..."
It is The Magic Pot! Thank you so much for finding these, your site is priceless!!

Maurice Dolbier, The Magic Shop, 1946.  This was also anthologized in "Best in Children's Books," Vol. 28, Nelson Doubleday, 1959.

Could this be David Cory, The Magic Soap Bubble (N: Grosset & Dunlap, '22), part of a series, Little Journeys to Happyland, in which Ned journeys to Happyland, rather than the moon?  There is a voyage to the moon in Bobbie Bubbles(Chicago:RAnd McNally,1916), but this is a longer book, with both  b&w & color illustrations

Could this be Lilian Moore,  The Magic Spectacles & Other Easy-to-Read Stories , ill. Arnold Lobel (Parents' Magazine Press,'65)?
I have often wondered the same myself.  Grandfather Owl wears spectacles and answers questions and solves arguments for all the other animals in the woods.  Little Toot aspires to be as knowledgable and attributes this knowledge to Grandfather's Spectacles.  One day he gets to try them, but alas, they tell him nothing.  Grandfather Owl explains "Spectacles are for seeing and not for knowing.  Knowing comes with growing and growing."  Not exactly the same as the stumper, but in case the story became confused over the years, I do have a copy for sale!
Moore, Lilian.  The Magic Spectacles and Other Easy-to-Read Stoies.  Illustrated by Arnold Lobel.   Parents' Magazine Press, 1965.  Cover slightly soiled and binding worn, otherwise G.  $10
Just another possibility, if it was the grandmother instead, but probably too recent: Beattie, Ann Spectacles New York, Ariel Books, 1985 "When Alison puts on Great Grandmother's glasses, they become magical and enable her to understand some of her grandmother's frustrations and unfulfilled aspirations."
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My grandparents used to read my sister and me a book that featured a train (freight train, locomotive), I believe at night. There was a boy in his bed, who either couldn't sleep and was told a story about this night train, or dreamed of this train speeding through the countryside at night. Most of the illustrations were dark and pen-and-ink-like, and I specifically remember a page where the train was out of control and the boy or conductor (or both) were pulling back hard on the throttle to stop it. I believe the cover was dark, like night. It was a relatively thin hardback. I would love to find this book for my sister, who is now a reading teacher. We read it in the mid- to late-70s, but I think it was used even then.

Chris Van Allsburgh, The Polar Express.  Just a suggestion.
David M. McPhail, The Train, 1977.  Could this be it?  When Matthew lets baby brother operate his train, the youngster crashes it  Matthew goes to the rescue in a life-sized dream. Ages 4-8.
Lilian Moore, The Magic Spectacles, 1965.  I was the original requester and I found it! The train story was a part of "The Magic Spectacles, and other easy-to-read stories," by Lilian Moore, illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Published by Parents' Magazine Press 1965. I found the other stories (The "Now Really" Time, Janey's Boss, The Pet that Benjy Wanted, The Silver Bird Express, Wait for a Windy Day, Little Willie) and it rang a bell! Thanks!

Might be Penelope Farmer, The Magic Stone.  When I read the description I immediately thought of this book, and went looking for descriptions on the web to confirm.  Couldn't find any, but I'll make the suggestion anyway.  I think it's Farmer's The MAGIC STONE which I remember featuring two girls, and a piece of stone (white, IIRC) with a sliver of metal stuck in it, and when they touch it together, or try to pull out the metal something magic happens.  Hope this helps.
Farmer Penelope, The magic stone, 1964.  In this remarkable fantasy a girl from London's slums & a girl from the country find a magic stone that gives them heightened perceptions..
Farmer, Penelope, The Magic Stone.  Yes, this is definitely it. Thank you!

Later:  This was probably set during the second World War and involved about 4 children, siblings I believe, who were sent to the country to stay with an elderly relative.  The only good clue I can give you is that the one of the children's cats was named Ozymandias.  I tried looking under Noel,
Streatfield and Ozymandias but no luck.  I have read a lot of the titles, hoping to recognize my description, but no luck.   I did find references to lots of other books I read as a child tho!
I have this book.  It is called The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild.  The children stay with an aged great aunt who is extremely eccentric, to say the least.
Hi-I found the Noel Streatfield book I was looking for about the children and a cat named Ozymandias -it's the Magic Summer.  I hope you can find a copy cheaper than $121, which was what was offered on amazon.com.  I don't know why this book has become so important for me, but I am getting the strong desire to own the books that were important to me as a kid, and I hope I can find them here.  I can think of no more rewarding collection that the pursuit of books one has loved.
Thank you so much for your info!! Magic Summer is out of print and it would be great if you could find a copy for me.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Streatfield, Noel.  The Magic Summer.  Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone.  Random House, 1967.  First edition.  Ex-library copy with usual markings.  G/G.  <ON HOLD>

I may have the answer to stumper A20- Anthology, multiethnic It may be MAGIC TALES retold by Frances Ross, Elisabeth Harner, Wilhemine Mohme, Stella M. Rudy and Eugene Bahn.Illustrated by Arthur Griffith, helen Osborn and Phoebe Flory. Published by Charles E. Merrill Company, 1946, 1950. The stories included are The Pig That Was Really a Troll; The Fisherman and His Wife; Little Daughter and the Lion; The Ugly Duckling; The Lost Axe; Rapunzel; The Bear and the Goblin; The Prince of Engalien; The Silver River; East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon; The Rabbit and the Monkey; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Cinderella; The Straw Ox; The Green Monkey; The Flying Ship; Blunder; The Emperor's New Clothes. I did not find one about a magic fruit tree and a tortoise. However, The Straw Ox matches the description. The Rapunzel in this book does kill the witch by cutting her hair at the right moment. And a troll (who turns himself into a pig) does kidnap three sisters (on three separate occasions) and the one sister saves them by making the troll bring sacks of wood to the mother, but instead of putting wood in the bag, a sister goes in instead. Illustartions are black and white. The person who wants this book should try to get it through his/her local library first to make sure it is the right one. At the very least, the person has the names of two of the stories- The Straw Ox; The Pig That Was Really a Troll.
Thanks, I'll assume it is Magic Tales. Now does anyone know how to find the story about the tree and the tortoise? Another detail: the other animals keep trying to find out the magic word but they all forget it on the way home, but the tortoise is more diligent and simply keeps repeating it as he returns.
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This is part of a collection, I think. The story I remember is about hungry animals and a tree that drops its fruit only when the right word is spoken - the  animals keep travelling to find out the magic word but they all forget it on the way home. The downtrodden tortoise is more diligent and simply keeps repeating it as he returns and is lavished with gratitude. I think the word was something like "Bonjo".

How about this - The Bojabi Tree, by Edith Rickert, illustrated by Anna Braune, published originally in 1923, reprinted by Doubleday in 1959, 46 pages "This once-popular picture book 'adapted from an African folk tale' will with its satisfying adventure, repetition of action, humor, and precise, colorful details, give fresh delight to kindergarten storytelling. In the land of All-the-Beasts, the so-HUNGRY animals seek the name of a strange fruit so that they may enjoy eating it. It looked like an APPLEORANGEPEARPLUMBANANA but it smelled like a BANANAPEARPLUMORANGEAPPLE. Four visits to King Leo are required before one of the creatures can remember the name of the fruit. Amusingly illustrated with pencil drawings." (Horn Book Feb/59 p.32)
The Bojabi Tree was published in at least one collection - Told Under the Magic Umbrella, collected by the Literature Committee of the Association for Childhood Education, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones, published
Macmillan 1939. The first story is Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack, and the last one is Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep, by Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, Edith Rickert's version certainly fits the plot - but the one I'm looking for is much less cutesy - the animals have no names, IIRC, and they certainly don't wear clothes. In all, it's more streamlined. I remember that one animal forgets because he bumps his head and another because he falls and rolls and bites his tongue too often to pronounce the word properly. The one picture I remember is that of the tortoise looking sadly at the angry wise man.
B96 bonjo: aha! there's another version of this story - The Bojabi Tree: a Folktale from Gabon, written and illustrated by Gerardo Suzan, published Scholastic, isbn 0590728903. I haven't been able to find a publication date or any more information though.
This sounds a lot like a book I spent years looking for... it turned out (in my case) to be an African Bantu folktale commonly known as The Name of the Tree.  I found a nice description of it online about halfway down the page.  One version is The Name of the Tree by Celia Lottridge.  Sun-bleached illustrations by Ian Wallace are intended to convey the shimmering heat and noon-day mirage of the African landscape. In this Bantu tale from Africa, a humble tortoise saves his hungry animal friends. Only those who know the name of the tree can reach its fruit. When haughty Gazelle and Elephant fail to bring the tree's name all the way back from the king, Tortoise attempts the task. On his journey, Tortoise repeats the name over and over until he reaches the foot of the tree, where the branches respond by bending down to the waiting animals. An enjoyable retelling conveying a theme common to folktales - effort and dedication succeed over talent and pride.
B96 bonjo: another version is called The Magic Tree, and is found with other stories in The Magic Horns, by Forbes Stuart, illustrated by Charles Keeping, published Abelard Schuman 1974. "The Hare and the Tortoise
apparently originated with the Hottentots - and it is good to see our old friend Tortoise once again the hero, in a delightful story called 'The Magic Tree', the humour of which is typical of these African tales. Charles Keeping's running lion, prancing ox and snapping alligator add to the delight of this collection." (Children's Books of the Year 74, p.42)
I posted both stumpers and here's the real answer to both: Magic Tales, retold by Adelaide Holl, 1964. The contents are similar to the other identical title, but not quite. They are (in this order): The Bojabi Tree, Wishing Gate, Cat and the Parrot, Cinderella; Five Peas in a Pod, The Flying Ship; Golden Pears, East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon; The Lost Axe; The Monkey's Heart, Troll of the Cave, The Silver River; Prince of Uppland, The Rabbit and the Monkey; Rapunzel; The Straw Ox; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; The Steadfast Tin Soldier, & The Tinderbox. Three tales are from India. The illustrations, unfortunately, are annoyingly generic. Other than that, the collection is unique and quite good.

I am not sure about the secret language part, but Ruth Sawyer's Enchanted Schoolhouse has to do with an Irish lad bringing a leprechaun to America! Might be worth a look!
I can't identify the book but was wondering if it might be one of Patricia Lynch's many books possibly one of her Brogeen books.
L99 I think this one may MAGIC TO BURN by Jean Fritz, 1964. It is technically a boggart that stows away with them on the ship, but I remember thinking that the illustrations or description made him sound like a leprechaun. I don't remember him speaking in code, but that doesn't mean he didn't. I think he travels with them because the woods are being torn down to make a road. He comes to America and is really freaked out. Magic happens when he smokes his pipe. I think it ends with the boggart knowing some important information or having an important document of a famous author, which helps the children's father who is a historian/professor/writer? ~from a librarian
L99 Fritz, Jean    Magic to burn    illus by Beth and Jo Krush    Coward, 1964.  Irish boggart [like a leprechaun] goes to America - secret code - every 10th word gives the message

THE MAGIC TOUCH by Peggy Bacon, 1968

The standard musical adaptation is John Morley, Pinocchio -- lots of song & dance, but I don't think it's the play you recall. Thre is a musical by Patricia Clapp called The Magic Toyshop, but I don't know anything more than the title. She's been writing since the early '70s.
Thanks for your e-mail. The reply certainly sounds promising and I am keen to find more information about "The Magic Toy Shop" as it could well be the play that I recall. A search on the internet
uncovered a play by Patricia Clapp called something like "The Toys That Took Over Christmas" about some toys in a toy shop that were brought to life, but was advertised as being a 10th anniversary performance, which dates it to 1990. Perhaps Patricia Clapp has written several plays along similiar lines -- the play I recall was performed by us as seven or eight year olds in about 1975 or 1976. As well as groups of toys having their own songs, I seem to recall a toy train taking all the toys to a location outside the toy shop. Pinocchio had a leading role, but I am pretty sure that this was not a musical adaptation of the Pinocchio story. Hopefully someone might have details about "The Magic Toy Shop". Thank You! [And later...]
Thanks to everyone who thought about the possible answer to my stumper.I have actually found out the answer, which is quite different from what I expected it to be. Eventually I managed to find an e-mail address for my old primary school of 25 years ago, and wrote to ask about the play I remembered. After making various enquiries, the Principal wrote me and said that the play I recall was written by a group of teachers after they had gathered ideas from the children, and incorporated various popular songs. They called it The Magic Toybox, but it is no longer known if a script exists or ever did exist. It's great to have an answer after wondering about this for so long.

I just picked this one up for the store.  It's called The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, and it's $8.  Shipping is an additional $3 within the U.S. for a total of $11...and you have a $2 credit from the stumper, so if you want our copy the amount due would be $9.  It's a Scholastic paperback in G condition (well-loved but the title is not that common), copyright 1966.  Sticker removal mark from spine and homemade? card pocket taped to inside back cover. Interested?

S192: The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, 1940. See Solved Mysteries for details the book doesn't cover!
Caroline Dwight Emerson, The Magic Tunnel
Caroline Dwight Emerson, The magic tunnel,1964.  Two children enter the New York subway and suddenly find themselves in a time tunnel that takes them back three hundred years to New Amsterdam where they watch history in the making and compare colonial and modern ways of life.
Emerson, Caroline Dwight, The Magic Tunnel.  Illus by Jerry Robinson, Four Winds Press, 1968, c1964.  "Two children enter the New York subway and suddenly find themselves in a time tunnel that takes them back three hundred years to New Amsterdam where they watch history in the making and compare colonial and medern ways of life."
Caroline Emerson, The Magic Tunnel, 1940s.  This is on the Solved Mysteries page.
Caroline Emerson, The Magic Tunnel.  "Juvenile time travel adventure of two kids who take a subway ride, but it doesn't
let them off at the zoo."
For over 10 years I have been dreaming off and on about a book I read when I was a pre-teen in the early 50s about a brother and sister who are on the NY subway and it crashes and they wake up in Dutch New York- a book made more vivid ny the fact that I first read it actually riding on the NY subway- and this evening on a whim decided to try to Google a description to find the title ("new york subway stuyvesant children's book"), never expecting to actually get a result, and lo and behold your site came up and there it was- The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, first published in 1940  Thank you.

Thank you for your comments on TheMagic Tunnel, one of my two favorite childhood stories.    The mysterious adventure of the storybook children transported from then-present day New York to 1664 New Amsterdam via the underground system captivated me and in hindsight, greatly contributed to my own move to New York in 1971, to find adventure, mystery, and, of course, magic. 

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair. I think this might be the one you are looking for.
Tolkien, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Has to be too easy. But in the Hobbit, Bilbo is helped by dwarves & wizard
LoR trilogy includes men and elves
Raymond Feist, Magician: Apprentice.  There were 4 books in the original series, published late 1980's - early 1990's.
A youth gets caught up in a war between the people of his world,including elves, dwarves, etc., and invaders from another planet.  While following the dwarves to safety after a battle, he finds armor and weapons that turn out to be enchanted.  His friend is apprenticed to a magician (hence the title of the book).
Brooks, Terry, The Sword of Shannara, 1977.  It's a long shot, given the date, but there are elves, dwarves, a magic sword and high adventure!
It is neither C S Lewis nor Tolkein.  I have just finished reading Sword of Shanarra and can rule that one out.  I have acquired the Feist: Magician Apprentice, and this one looks promising.
Raymond Feist, Magician: Apprentice (1982, 1999) is definitely the one. My thanks for solving this mystery.

Magician's Nephew

This sounds like The Magician's Nephew, which is part of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  The two children in it enter other worlds through a doorway in the attic which connects their houses, and one of the worlds has a red, dying sun.
R8 is definetely The Magician's Nephew. The book G5 isn't remotely like The Magician's Nephew.
I know the book being refererred to in R-8. It's The Magician's Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series.
I was reading through the "Stump the Bookseller" page on your website, and I think the book the reader is looking for under "R8: Red Sun" is The Magician's Nephew also by C.S.Lewis, and is part of the Narnia series. I actually loved these books as a child and recently re-read them, and the plot described in R8 is the same as in The Magician's Nephew.  All the Narnia books are worth a second look.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Lewis, C.S.  The Chronicles of Narnia.  Macmillan, 1955.  Complete series of seven books.  Book Club hardback editions from the sixties (see image).  VG/VG  <SOLD>

Magoose's Grocery, 1970's.  I know this book well. This was a Parent's magazine book club book.

H87: The Magpie's Nest, which shows up in many collections. Here's Joseph Jacobs' edition.
Other editions of The Magpie's Nest include those by Addison Barker (Wings Press, 1950), Jason Bolles (Martha Bolles, 1943), Joanna Foster with illustrations by Julie Downing (Clarion Books, 1995), William Stobbs and Joseph Jacobs
(Follett, 1970) and Isabel Paterson (John Lane/Bodley Head, 1917).  I'm not sure which edition you're looking for (or if indeed you remember one in an anthology, which broadens the scope considerably).  But this is certainly the (folk) story you're looking for.

I think there is a chance that I11 may be The Magus by John Fowles. There are some little differnces, but the general plot line is the same...
The island and the teacher...could this be A Breath of Air by Rumer Godden? (loosely based on The Tempest).
I agree with the person who thought the answer might be "The Magus" by John Fowles.  Just to give a few more details that might help, the protagonist is Nicholas Urfe.  The old man is Conchis.  The daughters are Lily and Rose.  And there is another woman, who is in the end Nicholas's true love, named Alison.  This book was made into a film as well. Best Regards
John Fowles, The Magus, 1965.  Per the "What Do I Read Next?" database at our library, this book is a novel about a teacher named Nicholas Urfe, who takes a job on a Greek island and makes friends with Mr. Conchis, a wealthy estate owner.  "After numerous violent erotic encounters, including a staged murder, the man is left fighting for what little sanity he has left." Descriptions online give a similar picture of the plot.
John Fowles, The Magus.  Sounds similar to The Magus by John Fowles: The story concerns young and intelligent Oxford graduate Nicholas Urfe, who takes up with Alison, an Australian girl he meets at a party in London. The affair gets more serious than Nicholas can stand, so he leaves her to take a position as an English instructor at the Lord Byron School in the Greek island of Phraxos. Bored, depressed, disillusioned, and overwhelmed by the Mediterranean island, Nicholas contemplates suicide, then takes to long solitary walks. On one of these walks he stumbles upon the wealthy Greek recluse Maurice Conchis, who may or may not have collaborated with the Nazis during the war and apparently lives alone on his island estate.

Inez Irwin, Maida's Little Shop.  It's the first in one of those Startemeyer series  Maida is a rich girl who opens a shop in a poor area of Boston. She makes friends in the nieghborhood, one of whom turns out to be her nanny's grandson from Ireland.  Only I think the diamond was in a necklace...

Ed Emberly, Big Green Drawing Book.  Sounds like Ed Emberly's series of drawing  books - the Green one was my favorite as a kid.
Emberley, Ed.  This sounds like it could be any of the many drawing books by Ed Emberley.
Ed Emberley, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make a World.  This definitely matches the description, although there may be others as well. I adored this book--you really could make a whole little world, without any particular drawing talent.
Have you looked at the Ed Emberly drawing books?  There are many and they are in the right time frame.
S399 Sounds like the drawing books by Ed Emberley~from a librarian
Ed Emberly had several drawing books that fit your description.  The Big Green Drawing Book, The Big Purple Drawing Book, and the Big Book of Drawing Faces come to mind because I have them in our elementary library!
Ed Emberley, Make a World.  From description, most likely this one of his many books. Finally back in print. It's one of my favorite gifts for children in elementary school--this book, a big blank book, and a set of markers, with the invitation to "make a world." The results are incredible. My favorite is a child who made an atlas of his "planet."
Ed Emberley, Make a World, 1972.  Thanks!  After doing a search on Ed Emberley, the exact book I believe I was looking for is Make a World copyright 1972.  Not sure who was the solver but, I thank you!!!

H5:  I don't know if this is the right book, but it's worth a check Hay-Foot, Straw-Foot by Erick Berry.
I saw the inquiry about a book with the saying "hay foot, straw foot, left foot, right foot."  This comes from a Wonder Book titled the Make-Believe Parade  published in 1949.   The author is Jan Margo.

All I remember about this book is a little boy who would march around with a paper hat on his head and chant "hayfoot, strawfoot" as he marched.
One I read around 1968 about a little boy who would march around with a paper hat singing "Hayfoot, Strawfoot."
For interest's sake - my father long ago told me the joke this comes from, about a country boy who joins the army and can't learn to march because he doesn't know left from right. His sergeant, also a country fellow, asks him
if he can tell hay from straw. Of course he can, any durn fool can do that! So Sarge ties a wisp of hay to one foot and straw to the other, and drills him by calling 'hay-foot, straw-foot' instead of 'left, right, left'.

A couple of possibilities:  By the Sandhills of Yamboorah by Reginald Ottley (1965, "The story of a boy who lives alone on the edge of the sandhills of the Australian desert.  His only companions are a dog named Brogla an her puppy Rags."  Or --  Rags, the Firehouse Dog by Elizabeth Morton, 1952.
I was enquiring about a book my family read 30 years ago.  It was about a dog named "Rags" who loves his owner, a rancher, very much but is not appreciated by his owner because he is not pure-bred.  At one point, the owner's two dobermans(?) attack Rags but he beats them decidedly, however, the owner sees the fight, but not the beginning and forces Rags, badly injured to leave.  Just after Rags runs off, a boy on the ranch runs up to the owner and tells him the other two dogs started the fight and crying tells him how much Rags loves him.  The owner is unable to find Rags no matter how much he looks for him.  Finally, they meet in a blizzard and Rags almost dies getting the owner to safety.  Then while Rags is dying the owner lays down with him and tells him over and over how sorry he is and Rags finally gets better.
by Laura Bannon, Make Room for Rags, 1964.
Bannon, Laura.  Make Room For Rags.  Houghton Mifflin, 1964.  Illustrated by Vee Guthrie.  When the small dog Rags appeared at the farmhouse in the middle of a storm, the family knew they would have to make room for her, for a short time, anyway. Danny hoped that the place could be permanent, but the more Rags teased the kittens and chased the chickens, the slimmer the chances seemed to be.

Mary Lois Dunn, The Man in the Box.  The description sounds exactly like a book that my teacher read to me in 6th grade, approximately, 1971.  It was about a man kept in a box in Vietnam and I think the local boy helps him escape to a cave.
Dunn, Marylois, The Man in the Box, 1968.  Maybe this one:  "Compassion for an American soldier suffering from torture in a small wooden box compels a young Montagnard to give up his family, free and care for the big, blond stranger in a jungle cave, and lead him to safety through the uncertainties of his war-torn land."
Thank you, thank you to the people who responded to my stumper "C is for Charlie." The correct title is The Man in the Box, and I was able to find it at my children's school. I am enjoying rereading it very much.

ARGH!  I read that story over and over in eighth grade (1978)!  It made me want to learn fencing, though I never did.  I keep thinking it is Richard or Robert somebody.  If anyone can track down the literature textbook it is in, that would help me solve an earlier book stumper I sent in about a boy named P.S.
unknown, A Man of Peace (?).  This description sounds just like a short story I too had to read for an English class in junior high!  I THINK the title was "A Man of Peace."  I seem to remeber that the theme - or at least, what we had to write our essays on - had to do with how an old fencer considered himself to be a 'man of peace' who didn't like fighting (or by implication, war), but in the story he winds up fighting really hard to defeat some arrogant, 'bad guy' fencer (a student or another instructor) and put him in his place.  The point is that he does this so that the other students won't learn to look up to the arrogant, conflict-loving fencer and come to think of him as the "better" fencer, but instead realize that a peace-loving person could still be the better fighter if need be.  I also have a dim idea that the theme was made important by an association with real fighting/war - like maybe all the students were set to be drafted when they came of age, or the country was facing impending war, or recovering from war, or something?  I DINTINCTLY remember writing an essay answering the question "Was [so-and-so] really a man of peace?" about this short story!  The only problem is, Googling "A Man of Peace" coupled with "short story" doesn't yield any results, so perhaps I've got the title wrong. For some reason, I also feel like the story MIGHT have been translated from French, and/or set in France, and/or that the characters had French names, but I may have imagined the French angle just because of the fencing.
I'm still thinking about that fencing story (now it's driving ME crazy!), and I found this by Googling.  On this website I found this bit about a television drama:  "Leonard Nimoy, by the way, worked with my teacher Ralph Faulkner in a little tv drama called "Man of Peace" back in the early, early 1950s. It was about a fencing master dedicated to the art of fencing who has a student who only fences for the brutality he can put into his game. Nimoy played one of Mr. Faulkner's students. The story was later remade starring James Mason in Mr. Faulkner's role. Mr. Faulkner directed the fencing in this one, and doubled for Mason. This time, the bad fencing student was patterned more along the line of James Dean, as Dean was the reigning "delinquent" at the time."  This sounds like the story I remember, but it was definitely a STORY I read for school, because I know I wrote an essay on it.  It looks like the story I remember may also have been made into a tv drama.  But I don't know if this is related to the solution sought by the stumper poster, or if it will help the detective work.
Lawrence Williams, A Man of Peace, 1976.  After MUCH searching, I finally found the answer to my own stumper!   "A Man of Peace" by Lawrence Williams was a short story in the 8th grade literature textbook, "Counterpoint In Literature", copyright 1976 by Scott Foresman and Company. It is the story of a duel between student Ramone De Parma and the fencing professor Claude LaFleur. The textbook is out of print, but I was able to find numerous used copies.

Mary Barrett, Man of the House at Huffington Row, 1998, copyright.  SOLVED.  Someone on one of my loops heard about our query and emailed me.  They said this is definitely the book.  Looks charming! Thanks anyway!!

A possible from online search: Krasilovsky, Phyllis The Man who Cooked for Himself NY, Parents Magazine Press, 1981. First Edition, Hardcover "A man who lives at the edge of the woods discovers that he need not rely on the store for a supply of good things to eat." Color Illustrations by Mamoru Funai.
F53 food on trees sounds like H6 hungry walk.
H6 hunger walk: a bit more on the suggested story by Krasilovksy - "A story about a man and his cat who live at the edge of the woods and buy everything to eat from the store. When his friends goes on vacation and he runs out of food, he finds he can live on the garden food he finds in the woods." Which does fit. The cover of the book is white, though, not yellow, with a picture of a plump balding man with a hat and apron, flipping pancakes while his cat looks on.

Sounds close to THE MAN WHO DIDN'T WASH HIS DISHES by Phyllis Krasilovsky, the man does load his dishes in a truck and the rain washes them, but he doesn't hang them on the line to dry, and there is no little boy in the story. ~from a librarian
Krasilovsky, Phyllis, The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes. I'm not 100% sure, there could be another book where someone washed dishes outside, but I do remember this story.
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A bachelor/widower decides one day to leave the dishes for the next day; after a while they fill his whole house. He's saved and learns his lesson though when it rains and he puts everything outside to get clean at once. (What a great site... thanks for The Furious Flycycle!)

The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes by Phyllis Krasilovsky.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Krasilovsky, Phyllis.  The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Scholastic, 1950, 4th paperback printing, 1971.  Trade paperback size, some wear, but a clean copy.  G.  <SOLD>

It's THE MAN WHO LOST HIS HEAD by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, 1942, 1970,1989. A man wakes up one day without his head. He carves out substitutes from vegetables - I remember a parsnip and perhaps a pumpkin. But everyone laughs, so he rejects the vegetables. He carves a head out of wood, and that's better, but he still wants his head back. So a young boy, who is making a ball out of tightly wound rags says he can get the head back. He hits the man with the ball, and the man wakes up with his head back.
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Can't remember title. Story is about a man who wakes up without his head, tries a bunch of things as substitutes (including a parsnip, which for whatever reason is etched in my memory). 1970's? Possibly published by Bobbs-Merrill, since my dad used to work for them and get books through them.

Claire Huchet Bishop, The Man Who Lost His Head, 1970.  More on the Solved Mysteries page.
Clare Huchet Bishop, The Man Who Lost His Head

Paul Gallico, The Man who was Magic, 1966.  The title isn't "Adam", but the protagonist's name is, and the plot fits.  Searching on Google will get you several synopses.
Paul Gallico, The Man Who was Magic. I'm pretty sure about this one. Adam appears in the heroine's life and goes to a magicians' convention (or similar). He scrambles and unscrambles an egg, and makes a wooden staff burst into bloom (white roses). The other magicians turn him away ... he changes the child heroine's life for the better, but leaves in the end.

Hal Dresner, The Man Who Wrote Dirty Books.  About a writer who's being sued because of the similarity of one of his characters to a woman named Bibbsy Dibbs.  It's written in the form of letters.

Leppard, Lois Gladys, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (Mandie bk 1).  Bethany House 1983.  A long-running series with Christian values. The first book is set in 1900, when Mandie is 12 and her father has just died. She runs away to the city and finds her Uncle John, discovering that he and her father are half-Indian. Her father's friend, Uncle Ned, is full Indian.
Lois Gladys Leppard, Mandie series.  These sound like the Mandie series, published by Bethany House. Probably more than 30 titles in the series by now, and still in print as far as I know.  They're sort of Nancy Drew-type mysteries with an inspirational twist. Set in the NC mountains, although Mandie travels a lot in her adventures.
Lois Leppard, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.  I am positive that you're looking for the Mandie books.  The series starts with Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.  In that book, Mandie's father dies and she leaves her stepmother and stepsister to find her father's brother.  Her Uncle John (a Native American)who was a friend of her father's, helps her.  She eventually finds her uncle and her birth mother, whose name is Elizabeth.  Mandie also has a boyfriend-type character whose name is Joe.
This is a mystery series.  In later books, Mandie does go to boarding school and eventually, on a trip to Europe.  There are twenty-some books in the series.

Julie Edwards, Mandy. Could this be Mandy?  It sound a lot like it.
I'm sure you'll get several other responses to this one, but O20 definitely sounds like Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.
Edwards, Julie Andrews, Mandy, 1971, reprinted 1983.  plot description from amazon.com: "For an orphan child whose life is filled with comfortable, predictable sameness, with no particular hardships, life is, well, all right. Really, what does Mandy have to worry about? So it comes as a surprise even to Mandy when a small restlessness begins to grow in her. This lonely ache sets her to wandering farther afield, and leads her to a startling and wonderful discovery over the orphanage wall--a very old, very small, seemingly abandoned cottage. Embarking on a clandestine domestic fantasy involving gardening tools and soap flakes, Mandy finds herself being less than honest about where and how she's spending her days. Holding her secret closer and closer to her heart, this imaginative dreamer inadvertently endangers her reputation--and her life."
Could the solution to O20 be, plain and simple, The Secret Garden? There isn't a cottage, but she does get into an off-limits garden and lovingly fixes it up. And she is orphaned.
Julie Andrews (may be under Julie Edwards), Mandy.   The story is similar to that of "The Secret Garden" but without so much death.  I haven't looked at it lately, but it was a favorite of both mine and my sister's.  Her 10 year-old daughter also loved it.
Julie Edwards, aka Julie Andrews, Mandy.  1971.  Wow, a stumper I actually know, and a book I love!  You're describing Julie Andrews's first book for children.  Hope you enjoy it now as much as you did as a child.
This reminds me of a book that I have been looking for too.  Is there some kind of windowseat with old curtains that she curls up in and reads while she looks out over the delapidated yard?
Mandy by Julie Edwards (Andrews)--Lots about gardeniing--I think she gets adopted in the end...
Edwards, Julie, Mandy. This book was written by Julie (Andrews) Edwards, the wife of director Blake Edwards.  I think she wrote it for her daughter. I just unpacked my copy from childhood books.
Julie Edwards, Mandy, 1971.  This is a wonderful book, written by the actress Julie Andrews writing under her real name Edwards (husband is Blake Edwards).  Mandy the orphan finds a deserted cottage in the woods with one room covered in seashells all over the walls and ceiling.  She fixes up the house and restores the neglected garden, and ultimately is adopted by the family who owns the land and cottage. It's a wonderful story. Julie Andrews/Edwards also wrote one other children's book, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.
Julie Edwards (better known as the actress Julie Andrews), Mandy, 1971,  1989. This fits the description, but I seem to recall from another stumper (here or elsewhere) that there was another book with a similiar theme. Worth taking a look at Mandy, though. ~from a librarian
This has to be Mandy by Julie Edwards, aka Julie Andrews, the actress. Mandy is rescued from her cottage when she falls ill, and eventually is adopted by the family whose estate it's on.
Mandy by Julie Andrews, Harper & Row c. 1971 This sounds like the book she's looking for.  From the flyleaf: "For ten-year-old Mandy, the old stone orphanage on the outskirts of the pretty village was the only home she remembered....Then one day, when Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall to explore, there it was--a tiny deserted cottage in a clearing in the woods.  Here at last was her very own, very secret home.  She would tidy it up and plant a garden. All through the spring, summer and fall, Mandy worked for--and sometimes "borrowed"--the little things she needed for it.  And to guard her secret, she even lied..."
Julie Andrews Edwards, MANDY
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My teacher read this book out-loud in Grade 5 or 6. A girl goes exploring and finds an abandoned cottage. She cuts overgrown folliage back and starts tending to the garden. She steals some soap to clean the dusty place.  The fireplace or maybe all the walls in one room are decorated with shells.

G108 Sounds like it might be MANDY by Julie Edwards. ~from a librarian
Andrews, July, Mandy.  See Solved Mysteries.
Dandelion Cottage.  This is a book about a little girl who fixes up an old house.  Don't know if it's the same one or not.
Sounds like Mandy by Julie Edwards (Julie Andrews)
Elizabeth Enright, Goneaway Lake.  I am not positive that this is the right book, but the part about the deserted cottage is correct, and I believe I remember a room lined with shells.
Julie Edwards (aka actress Julie Andrews), Mandy.  This is of course Mandy, by the actress Julie Andrews writing under
her pen name.  It's on the Solved pages with more descriptions.  A great book.
Julie Edwards (Andrews), Mandy, 1960s.  My favorite book of all time! Mandy climbs over the wall of the orphanage and
finds this cottage.  Lucky for her, it is owned by a wonderfully nice rich couple who discover her one stormy night when
she is tending to her cottage but falls very ill.  They take her in and eventually (surprise!) adopt her. This one is also a previously solved stumper that i noticed a few days ago.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  This could be the book Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.  Mandy is a girl who lives in an
orphanage.  She goes exploring on the property next door and finds an abandoned cottage.  I believe it has been reissued.
Julie (Andrews) Edwards, Mandy.  I have the book on tape read by Julie Andrews Edwards. I believe the book was published in 1971.
Julie Andrews Edwards, Mandy
Julie Andrews, Mandy
A Secret Garden??
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  See entry in Solved Mysteries page.
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I'm looking for a book I read as a child about a girl named, I believe, Marnie.  She discovers a secret little house and a secret garden and spends time re-doing them both.  I'm almost sure the name Marnie is involved somewhere because that is my middle name.  This book was probably not published after 1980 because I read it before that date.  If you can help, I'd be really grateful!  Thanks!

Julie Edwards, Mandy. (1970)  Lonely for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage.
Andrews, Julie, Mandy.  How about Mandy instead of Marnie.  Ten-year-old Mandy feels lost among the thirty children who live in the old stone orphange. She dreams of a home of her own, a place where she belongs. When Mandy climbs over the high orphanage wall to explore the outside, she is lucky enough to find a tiny deserted cottage hidden in the forest. With a few "borrowed" items, the cottage becomes a refuge. To guard her secret, Mandy even lies — but when she falls terribly sick, no one knows where she is. No one, that is, except for a special admirer she didn't know she had.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  This is probably the book you're looking for...but maybe you also read Joan G. Robinson's book "When Marnie Was There," about a lonesome little girl who meets a girl named Marnie, whose real nature remains unexplained?
Julie Edwards (Andrews), Mandy
Julie Andrews (Edwards), Mandy.  Could it be Mandy, by the famous Julie Andrews, but originally published as by Julie Edwards?  Mandy is an orphan who finds an abandoned cottage in the woods.  She cleans up the cottage and brings tools to work on the garden.
Julie Edwards, Mandy (1971) A wonderful book about a ten-year-old orphan who one day climbs over the wall and discovers a small cottage and garden. She keeps them a secret, cleaning them and creating a private refuge from the orphanage. See Solved Mysteries.
Edwards, Julie Andrews, Mandy. (1971)  I know it's not Marnie, but how about this one?  Description: "Longing for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage in the village of St. Martin's Green." From the flyleaf: "...Then one day, when Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall to explore, there it was--a tiny deserted cottage in a clearing in the woods.  Here at last was her very own, very secret home.  She would tidy it up and plant a garden.  All through the spring, summer and fall, Mandy worked for--and sometimes 'borrowed'--the little things she needed for it...
Julie Edwards, Mandy. (1971)
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Is this Mandy by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews)? Sounds very similar "Longing for a place of her own, a ten-year-old orphan creates a secret home in a deserted cottage in the village of St. Martin's Green."  There's another book When Marnie was there by Joan G Robinson, but not this storyline - this one is a time-slip/ghost story. Perhaps you've read them both and are remembering bits of each as one book?
When Marnie Was There, maybe? See Solved Mysteries.
Could the person be thinking of MANDY by Julie Andrews Edwards? Originally published in 1971, and republished several times since.~from a librarian
Julie Andrews, Mandy.  I think that M381 is on your Solved Mysteries page.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Could you be thinking of Mandy, by Julie Edwards (Andrews) where orphan Mandy discovers an abandoned cottage and spends a lot of time there? Plot line sounds like the book you are thinking of.
Julie Edwards, Mandy.  Except for the name, this sounds a lot like Mandy...
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I'm 34 years old now, but I read it when I was in grade school.  It was about a lonely and unhappy girl that climbs over a stone wall and into a forest area where she finds an abandoned cottage.  She spends each day sneaking away over the wall to it, and cleans and sweeps it up and plants a garden, I think they were roses.  I can't remember much more than that about it.  I hope you can help me because it is driving me crazy.

Edwards, Julie (Andrews), Mandy. Mandy is an orphan who discovers the cottage in the woods and sneaks away to fix it up.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. I'm almost embarrassed to suggest the reader may be thinking of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Too obvious, but still . . .
Francess Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. If, instead of climbing over the wall, she might have found a key and gone through a doorway, this could be the one you're looking for.  Mary, with the help of her sickly cousin, Colin, and new friend, Dickon, restores the overgrown garden hidden behind a wall on her uncle's estate, at the same time transforming herself and Colin from miserable, lonely, spoiled children to happy, healthy ones.
Julie (Andrews) Edwards, Mandy. "For an orphan child whose life is filled with comfortable, predictable sameness, with no particular hardships, life is, well, all right. Really, what does Mandy have to worry about? So it comes as a surprise even to Mandy when a small restlessness begins to grow in her. This lonely ache sets her to wandering farther afield, and leads her to a startling and wonderful discovery over the orphanage wall--a very old, very small, seemingly abandoned cottage. Embarking on a clandestine domestic fantasy involving gardening tools and soap flakes, Mandy finds herself being less than honest about where and how she's spending her days. Holding her secret closer and closer to her heart, this imaginative dreamer inadvertently endangers her reputation--and her life."
Patricia St. John, Rainbow Garden. This wouldn't be Rainbow Garden, would it? A very slightly edgy Christian novel. Single mom realizes daughter Elaine isn't having much of a life in London flat, sends her off to North Wales to board with minister's family. She's shy, gruff and somewhat snooty. The minister's younger children Robin and Frances are nice, but the two older ones Peter and Janet are covertly nasty to her -- they don't even realize it themselves -- because she's not Christian. While exploring alone, she finds a beautiful forest and an abandoned cottage with a garden which she undertakes to fix up. And this, as Spike Milligan said, is where the story really starts!
It's been a year and a half since I posted this question regarding a book that I couldn't remember the title of or the author's name.  I thought to check on it today and am THRILLED, because it's been solved!!!!!   YAY!!!  I'm so happy!!  THANK YOU!  Yes, it is indeed titled "MANDY" and written by Julie (Edwards) Andrews.  I just wanted to thank you sooooo much for helping me figure that out, I couldn't have done it without you.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Edwards, Julie Andrew.  Mandy.  Illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown.  Harper Collins, 1971, 1989, 2001.  30th Anniversary edition.  New paperback, $5.95

Try Munro Leaf's Manners Can Be Fun, 1936.
Sesyle Joslin/ Maurice Sedak, What Do You Say, Dear?  Another suggestion, though the Munro Leaf seems more likely.

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Manse. Here is a quote from the story:  "And I know not which is the more strange, that I should carry about with me some fibres of my minister-grandfather or that in him, as he sat in his cool study, grave, reverend, contented gentleman, there was an aboriginal frisking of the blood that was not his tree-top memories, like undeveloped negatives, lay dormant in his mind tree-top instincts awoke and were trod down and Probably Arboreal (scarce to be distinguished from a monkey) gambolled and chattered in the brain of the old divine."
My searches have returned quotes from Darwin, Huxley, and Stevenson
Don Marquis, The Revolt of the Oyster.  This book looks likely!

Judd, Frances , Mansion of Secrets.  A Kay Tracey Mystery.  Abandoned house is filled with secret rooms and passages. 

P81 - Think this is Paul Gallico's Manxmouse - potter makes a mouse without a tail by mistake, which comes to life.
Gallico, Paul, Manxmouse. 1960s/70s. Potter overtired (and possibly drunk) makes mouse with large ears but not enough clay for tale - somehow comes to life and has adventures.
Thankyou so much for the reply, you truly are a genius!  If you do happen to find a copy I'd definitely be interested.

Could this be Patricia B. Ardley, Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog (London,1936) ?
I haven't had any luck tracking down info on Mr. & Mrs. Hedgehog, but appreciate the tip.
Lifton, Betty Jean, illus. by Yasuo Segawa, The Many Lives of Chio and Goro. NY Norton 196.  This fits for date and is an Asian folktale. The plot is similar, except it is foxes. Perhaps there is another version with hedgehogs, or badgers? "The Japanese folktale of the old farmer Goro and his forgetful wife Chio who decide to be foxes in their next life when they die.  However, Chio forgets what animal to be and chooses a chicken instead. Goro, the fox, goes to catch a chicken to eat but is mesmerized by the chant  that Chio always said, and he leaves her alone. He cannot live with himself as a failure fox so he dies and becomes a rooster to take the chicken  for his wife. They are happy and again pass on to become people again and live happily ever after, until the next life. 60 pps."
H10 hedgehog love: it's not hedgehogs, but it is reincarnation gone wrong and based on an Asian folktale - The Many Lives of Chio and Goro, by Betty Jean Lifton, illustrated by Yasuo Segawa, published NY Norton 1968 "Japanese folktale of an old farmer and his wife who decide to be foxes in their next life. Instead several things go wrong and they end up as a rooster and a chicken."
I would like to thank the person who responded to my now very old stumper with The Many Lives of Chio & Goro, even when I gave the wrong details.  I haven't checked in for a while and was thrilled to see a new response.  This may very well be the answer.  I may have confused that story with Grimms' Hare and Hedgehog tale.  (I suspect I was eavesdropping, not participating, in the storytelling session!)  The wife becoming easily confused strikes a familiar note.

James Thurber, Many Moons, Harcourt Brace 1943.

Sullivan, Peggy, Many Names for Eileen, Follett Pub. Co., 1969.  "Eileen doesn't really object to being called "Missy," "Princess," "Tiger," "Curlytop," and other nicknames, but she wonders why people can't just call her Eileen."

#B64--Big Imagination Boy:  No answer, but I have a lead:  someone at the Alibris Boards is looking for a copy of an obscure Dr. Seuss story titled "Marco Comes Late."  Since they have a typed copy of it, I'll get back to you as to whether it's the right one.
Later...
Marco is the name of the boy in a number of Dr. Seuss stories, including his first book, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street!  I KNEW the one I was looking for was like And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street! only in reverse, as that is about a boy coming FROM school and this is about a boy going TO school.  "Marco Comes Late" is a narrative poem which appeared in the collections Treat Shop and More Read to Yourself Stories, but seems to have never been published as a book by itself.  Didn't find the whole poem online, but enough so that I'm sure it's the one I'm after.
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I am writing you this letter to see if you might be able to help  me locate a couple of my favorite books.  I'm now a  school teacher myself for my son that I am home schooling and would  like very much to find the following books. They helped me so much  throughout my ele. years as I believe they will do the same for him.   I would appreciate it emensely if you could help me locate all these books and i am willing to pay!   One story in particular is "MARCO COMES  LATE."   Marco comes late is about a  boy who arrives to school late and tell this long story of what  happened on Mulberry street that made him late. It's all rhymes!

Well, I can certainly help with the "Marco Comes Late" story.  It is  Dr. Seuss, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.
Your response to M252 (Marco Comes Late) is not correct.  The poem she is referring to is named "Marco Comes Late", is written by Dr Seuss and happens on Mulberry Street, but it is not the book And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  I went that route a few years ago when I was searching for "Marco Comes Late" and spent way too much money on the wrong book.  I have been searching for this poem for years because I memorized it for a speech contest as a 3rd grader.  A librarian in my family finally got tired of me begging her to help, and used her vast resources to locate the poem.  I'm told it can be found in the book  Treat Shop, 1966 edition.  I am about to order this book, to see if it is really there.
Dr Seuss, Marco Comes Late.  For the full text of Marco Comes Late, go to this website, and then go to page 25.  I cant imagine this isn't protected by copyright, but there is is.
I couldn't find any book with the title Marco Comes Late, and and in the Geisel (Seuss) entry of Something About The Author - which lists a comprehensive list of everything done by an author - this poem is not listed.  But I did find a copy of the poem on the Internet by doing a Google search  it's on the Elementary Speech Meet site.
Yes, Yes! It is, indeed, in Treat Shop-one of the Treasury of Literature-Readtext Series. Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc.1960 Written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss.(pp 119-124) Nicely done.

Janette Sebring Lowrey, Margaret, 1950?  For M418, how about Margaret by Janette Sebring Lowrey? If this is the right one, it is the book upon which the Annette series of the Mickey Mouse Club was based.
Margaret Smith, Margy.  I am the one who suggested Margaret might be the solution for this book, but now I think it is Margy by Margaret Smith:  Margaret Smith's novel Margy is a Canadian Children's Book Centre choice. In this well-written narrative, the protagonist, thirteen-year-old Margy Stratton, lives with her father in Manitoba. Margy's mother has been dead for four years. When her father is faced with friction between Margy and her stepmother, he contacts Children's Aid to find a home for Margy.  Through the intervention of a kindly neighbour, arrangements are made for Margy to live with her two maiden aunts in Bancroft, Ontario. Although her mother's family was affluent, the depression has left them with few resources. Margy originally suspects that the aunts have taken her in through a sense of "duty", but she and her aunts slowly come to appreciate and love each other. Margy and her aunts are likeable, real characters who are in fact based on actual people. Margaret Smith skillfully portrays the hardships of the depression without melodrama.
I don't think that this book was written that early but I could be wrong.  Do you have any further details on what the book was about?    I tried to find descriptions of it on the internet, but haven't found anything so far.  I remembered something else about this book.  The girl (Margie or whatever her name was) discovers a book of poems by Robert Frost and really enjoys them.  I think she lives with her grandparents or maybe a strict aunt or something like that.  I remember that a lot of the book was set during the wintertime.
Yes, I think Margy is it!  As soon as I read "Margy Stratton" I knew it was the right one.  Thank you so much, I can't wait to read it again!  By the way, this site is great... I'm sure I'll come back to it with lots more stumpers!

Dorothy Haas, Maria, Everybody Has a Name,1966. I still have my copy of this book!!! Saved it for my son. It was a "Whitman BIG Tell-a-Tale" book.  Illustrated by David K. Stone. Story was about a kindergarten type class.  Jonny was was one of about 5 students. All the kids were trying to help Maria start talking. Eventually they went on a field trip & Mr Elephantopoulous was finally able to tease her into saying at least her name . . .!!!
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I'm looking for a book (could be a golden book--I think it was that standard size anyway) about a girl named Maria that couldn't talk. She finally spoke aloud while visiting a market with her classmates. It might be called, "Maria can talk"--but I'm not sure. Thanks!

M77 is Maria, Everybody has a Name by Dorathy Haas A whitman Big tell a tale book.
M77 maria can talk: this sounds like Maria, Everybody has a Name, already listed on the Solved list. The class is visiting Mr Elephantopoulos' fruit market when he gets Maria to speak.

This sounds like a book whose name I of course cannot remember; it was made into a movie (marketed as horror, but not!) called "Paperhouse."
This book was also published under the title, The Magic Drawing Pencil.
C34 is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  It's a good, but very creepy book.  At one point she draws rocks with eyes around the house.
"Paperhouse" is based on the book Marianne Dreams.
I don't know this book or movie, but according to Robert Ebert's review, the movie "Paperhouse" was based on a novel by Catherine Storr called Marianne Dreams.
I have an answer for one of the stumpers...C34 is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  Marianne is recuperating from a long illness and finds a magic pencil in her mother's mending basket.  What she draws with the pencil during the day, she dreams about that night.  She draws a house and a boy in that house and then learns that the woman who is tutoring her through her recovery is also tutoring the boy Marianne has been dreaming.  It's a wonderfully eerie book.  There is a sequel entitled Marianne and Mark.

Hi.  I am looking for a book that I read over and over in my teens in the early 70's.  It was a paperback book that was about either a boy or a girl who is sick and confined to bed and every night dreams about the mountains or something of the like that are outside the house or maybe just in the dream.  the person gets scared as they get closer and closer in the dream or in real life.  a child friend helps this boy or girl.  I remember the sick child has to do drawings and whatever the sick child draws also occurs in the dream.  I cannot remember what happens in the end.  sorry to be so vague.  Hope u can help.

M49: Sounds like Marianne Dreams, which was turned into the very good 1980s low-key horror movie
"Paperhouse". She's ill and delirious, and she can't drive away her nightmares, but through her drawings, she can influence them.
M49 Definitely sounds like Marianne Dreams.  It was written by Catherine Storr and she wrote a sequel as well, called Mark and Marianne.
Thank you so much!!  I have been looking for this book for years.  It was one of my favourites from my early teen years. i am also very interested to hear that it was made into a movie. what a wonderful service!! i cannot thank you enough.
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Do you have any information regarding the television series based on the book Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. I can find plenty of information about the movies "Paperhouse" but it is the television show I remember vividly.
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The Magic Drawing Pencil, or The Magic Pencil.  This book is about a little girl who gets sick with scarlet fever or smallpox.  She is quarantined at home and put to bed...then she is given a sketch book and a new drawing pencil -- one that is not too scratchy and not too light, but just right.  She draws some pictures of a house, trees etc., places some large rocks outside of it.  Soon she drifts to sleep and finds herself in her drawings -- not everything she has drawn is kind, either.  The book details her adventures as she adds to her drawings while awake, and returns to the magical land when asleep.  I remember enjoying it very much when I read it, some 30-odd years ago, and wish I could locate a copy to purchase for my kids.
I'm a friend of Catherine Storr. Marianne Dreams was reprinted a while ago in England.  I've been using the
paperback in my Fantasy class (U of Illinois--I recently retired).
First of all, thanks for a great website.  I found it entirely by accident, and have been perusing it all afternoon.  I'm sure you hear this all the time, but having recently had a daughter, I am trying to accumulate many of the books I remember from childhood, and the most infuriating are those where I can't remember the title.  On your site, I found reminders of several great books I had forgotten, AND the answer to MY number two stumper -- Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr -- incredible!
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I'm interested in a book I read when I was about 11. It is about a girl who goes off to stay in a house (maybe a lighthouse?) by the sea. There are big rocks all around the house that she perceives as strangely threatening.  Gradually she becomes ill, and starts having strange dreams about the rocks. She battles back, and ultimately triumphs over them. I recall the stones at the end shouting "Not the light, not the light!!" That's what makes me think it might have been a lighthouse she was in. It was very spooky and I loved it. Any idea what it was?

The book you're looking for is Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.  It was first published in 1958 but has been reprinted many times.  The back cover reads: "Soon after Marianne found the pencil in the old workbox, she began to have strange dreams of an old house, with a boy in the upstairs room.  Then the amazing truth dawned on her:  it was she who had created the house and the boy because whenever she drew something during the day, that night she would dream about it."  Marianne drew the one-eyed rocks that watch the house and become more menacing each time she dreams.  The lighthouse she drew as a place of refuge  its light blinds the rocks as she and the boy make their escape. It's a mesmerizing story, and one of my favorites.
MARIANNE DREAMS by Catherine Storr.  First published in 1958, Catherine Storr's deservedly popular children's story has been through numerous reprints.  It  also became a movie titled "Paperhouse."  It is now available from Lutterworth Publishing.
Catherine Storr, Marianne Dreams, c.1965.  This is in the solved mystery section!
S156 sounds like Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr to me. It was also made into a movie called "Paperhouse" in the late 80s.
Catherine Storr, Marianne Dreams.  A sick girl has strange dreams about the things that she draws, including
some evil-looking stones.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Storr, Catherine.  Marianne Dreams.  Illustrated by Marjorie-Ann Watts.  Puffin Books, 1958, 1964.  Paperback.  VG  <SOLD>

Marianna May and Nursey by Tomie dePaola. (1983)
dePaola, Tomie, Marianna May and Nursey. Holiday House, 1983.  Actually, the servants dye all her dresses different colors so that stains don't show up - she can roll in the grass in her green dress, make mud pies in her brown dress, eat strawberry ice cream in her pink dress, etc.
Is this the same as W201?
Tomie De Paola, Marianna May and Nursey. (1983)  See stumper W201 for more details.
Tomie dePaola, Marianna May and Nursey.  See stumper W201 below
Tomie dePaola, Marianna May and Nursey.(1983) A little rich girl is miserable because she isn't allowed to do anything but sit still and keep her white dress clean, until the iceman comes up with the suggestion to dye her dresses different colors, so that she can make mudpies in brown, eat strawberry ice cream in pink, roll in the grass in green, etc. When she paints pictures, her dress is rainbow colored.

Carlson, Natalie Savage, Marie Louise's Heyday, 1975, Charles Scribner's Sons.  It starts out "today is my heyday, because I have found the sweetest, fattest banana on the Man's tree....Shall I play with my seashells and eat banana or swing in my swing and eat banana or just eat banana?"    But babysitting five little possums gets in the way and she doesnt get to eat her banana till the end of the book.
Natalie Savage Carlson, Marie Louise's Heyday, 1975.  Marie Louise is a mongoose who thinks it is her heyday when she finds the biggest, fattest banana ever.  But she has to babysit the five naughty Possum children, and they keep interrupting her attempts to eat that banana.
Try MARIE LOUISE'S HEYDAY by Natalie Savage Carlson, illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey, 1975. Marie Louise is a mongoose who has to babysit for 5 possum children. (And in case you're interested, there are 2 or 3 other books about Mary Louise the moongoose)~from a librarian
Carlson, Natalie Savage. Marie Louise's heyday,  illus by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey. Scribner, 1975.  Sequel: Runaway Marie Louise.  Scribner, 1977
Thats it!! I had no idea there were other books in the series...can't wait to get my copy!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Carlson, Natalie Savage. Marie Louise's Heyday. Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. Scribner, 1975,  Ex-library edition in library binding with usual marks.  Soiled, slighty musty, owners name on flyleaf; overall Good-.  $7

Not too likely because of the date, but perhaps Esther Bates' Marilda series, which includes Marilda and the Bird of Time illustrated by Gustav Schott, published New York, McKay, 1960. The first two books are Marilda's House(1956 and Marilda and the Witness Tree (1957). The only description I have is "When young Marilda is orphaned, she and her friends raise the money to enable her to keep her house. The later books follow her growing-up period." There's enough resemblance (orphan, which would explain an uncle, and the witness tree, which could be the redbud tree) that it seems worth mentioning.
B28 bird on the wing: More on the suggested title Marilda and the Bird of Time, by Esther W. Bates, illustrated by Gustav Schrotter, published McKay 1962. "Marilda, as Class President, begins to grow up in this lively new story by the author of the popular Marilda books. Ages 12-14."
Mildred Lawrence, Peachtree Island, 1940s.  I don't have a copy to check, but I vaguely remember the girl staying with her uncle. Or I could be thinking of another book.

Wells, Carolyn, Marjorie's Vacation, 1935.  One possibility:  Wells, Carolyn. Marjorie's Vacation - Marjorie #1 Grosset & Dunlap 1935. VG/VG- Orange cloth binding, glossy frontispiece, full-color dust jacket.
Lorna Hill, Marjorie & Co. Lorna Hill wrote a series of books about Marjorie and Friends - Guy, Patience, Esme.  The live in Northumberland England, ride horses, have picnics, go to Gymkhanas etc.
MARJORIE SERIES:  1 Marjorie and Co (Art & Educational 1948); 2 Stolen Holiday (Art & Educational 1948); 3 Border Peel (Art & Educational 1950); 4 Northern Lights (privately pub. 1999); 5 Castle in Northumbria (Burke1953); 6 No medals for Guy Nelson (Nelson1962)  PATIENCE SERIES:  1 They Called Her Patience (Burke 1951); 2 It Was All Through Patience (Burke 1952); 3 So Guy Came Too (Burke 1954); 5 The Five Shilling Holiday (Burke 1955).
M137 marjorie: perhaps All About Marjory, by Marian Cumming, illustrated by David Stone Martin, published Harcourt 1950, 148 pages. "Texas in the early 1900s is the scene of this sensitive story of 8-year-old Marjory and her little sister Nancy. The band concert in the park, the stolen dream and Miss Louisa's wedding are among the highlights of their lives. Interesting and unusual line drawings." (HB Nov/50 p.473) There's at least one sequel  Just Like Nancy, published Hale 1953, 174 pages. This is probably too late a publication date, though, as someone born in 1938 would have been 12-15 and likely too old to read about an 8 year old. Another possible, with a better date, is Dandelion Cottage and its sequels, which include The Adopting of Rosa Marie (1908), by Carroll Watson Rankin, published Holt 1904 and reprinted a few times since. It's about four young girls, Bettie, Jeanie, Mabel and Marjory, who earn the right to use a small cottage for the summer by digging dandelions from the lawn.
Hill, Lorna, Marjorie and Co.  The "Marjorie" series sounds like the one required. The quality of the writing would stick in anybody's memory. So Guy Came Too from the "Patience" series has the same hero, Guy Charlton, as all the Marjorie stories. Guy (and some of the others) also crops up in quite a few of the Wells series. This year (2002) and this week mark the 100th anniversary of Lorna Hill's birth.

Sonia Levitin, The Mark of Conte, 1976.  Due to a computer error, Conte Mark's school thinks he's two people: Conte Mark and Mark Conte.  He decides to take advantage of the error and attends HS as 2 people taking twice the courseload in order to graduate in 2 yrs instead of 4.

Could this be it?  Hark, Ann.  Market House Mystery: Adventure in a Pennsylvania Dutch Market House.  Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., (1955).
Thank you! I do believe that is probably the book! You are amazing. I will let you know if I decide to order it. I am referring you to everyone I know!

Craig, Margaret Maze, Marsha,  1955.  I just finished reading this so it is absolutely the right book. All the details are right except that it is towards the end of the book that the sister buys the dress and Marsha finally stands up for herself. Also, you should buy Trish by the same author- they are quite similar. Both are terrific books and really sweet.
I can't remember author or title, but I also remember the book.  The selfish sister was named Diane or Diana, the mother expected the aunt to wear something 'town & country' and Marcia/Marsha the decent daughter says "jeans.  Probably paid all of $3.95 for them.'    The selfish sister has been recognized as a loser by the important characters including classmates in the end.  Marcia works for the census to earn a few hundred dollars for college.  The breaking point comes when her sister, admitting she doesn't need another dress, spends more than half the amount she earned on yet another dance dress.  Maybe these additional details will spark someone else's memory.  The author *might* have been Betty Cavanna - if not, someone like enough to share the space in my memory.
What a great service!  I have been trying for years to remember the names of those books and you got them solved in a matter of days.  W178 is Patricia's Secret (I checked on the Internet and they even had one with the cover, which I remember, so I know it's the right one), F204 is The Unchosen and M325 is Marsha, thank you, thank you.  The last one, V40, sounds like Miracle on Maple Hill which I have read, but I don't think it is that one, although I want to get it from the library and double check before submitting a denial, it was a very good guess.  You have made my day, you have no idea!

D46 is Marta Finds the Golden Door by Frances Cavanah, 1941 later reissued as Marta and the Nazis. Marta's father hides the diamonds in her doll's baby bottle which is filled with water.  She travels to America to live with her uncle and his son.
D46 diamonds in doll: more on the suggested - Marta Finds the Golden Door, by Frances Cavanah, illustrated by Harve Stein (b/w) & Janice Holland (color), published Grosset & Dunlap 1941, reprinted by Scholastic 1974 as Marta and the Nazis, illustrated by Wayne Blickenstaff. For some reason, plot information is very hard to find.
I read this book in 1954.  Marta hides the family's diamonds in her doll's bottle containing water which concealed them especially as the Nazis paid little attention to a little girl playing with her doll.  Thanks for the memory!

A very similar sounding query was posted on the Alibris board, but the only suggestions so far are the two I'm repeating here: The plot sounds like Star Girl, by Henry Winterfeld, published Lutterworth 1963, 168 pages, but that's illustrated with line drawings by R. Ackermann-Ophuls. It's about Little Mo, from Venus, who falls out of her spaceship, is befriended by children and protected from officious and greedy adult humans. Otherwise, maybe: Martin and his Friend from Outer Space by Ivo Duka and Helena Kolda, illustrated with photographs. "A new story about Martin, the young hero of "The Secret of the Two Feathers", and a girl from one of the nine moons of Saturn who comes to New York for a day of amazing adventures. 96 pages, ages 7-11, published Harper, 1955. (from an ad in the Horn Book, Apr/55 p.147)
Ivo Duka, Martin and His Friend from Outer Space.  This is definitely the book.  Martin builds a radio and contacts a girl from another planet with gold hair.
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This is a 1950s children's book about two little boys who have a transistor radio.  At night, they somehow use the radio to communicate with a little girl from a distant planet.  She has a silver streak in her hair.

Duka, Ivo, Martin and His Friend from Outer Space.  Harper 1955.  I've just been talking with someone on the ABE boards who has this book and we are pretty certain this is it: "Martin builds a tele-spacer using odds and ends ... radio tubes, copper wire, aluminum foil, knobs, keys, an old fashioned space helmet (like a fishbowl), a bit of meteorite.  He is able to contact Aknele-Alpha, a girl who lives on Saturn.  Her face shows up in the space helmet.  They have lots of interesting discussions, telling each other about their respective planets.  Finally, they make plans for her to beam herself to Earth, where they meet at Coney Island for a day of fun.  Later in the day she tells him that the golden hanks of hair in her bangs are real gold and she needs this metal hair in order to space travel.  A bad guy overhears this and tries to kidnap her, in order to steal her golden hair.  After a hair-raising getaway (couldn't resist), she and Martin go to the top of the Empire State building and she is able to beam herself back home.  The best part of all is that the book is illustrated with page after page of black and white photographs, so we know this story is TRUE!". Va-li-bree adds: "Since the photo illustrations are black and white, Aknele-Alpha's hair looks black with white (or silver) streaks in the bangs.  There is one scene fairly early on in the story where Martin is able to reverse the picture transmitted in the tele-spacer's space helmet so that he sees himself.  There is a photograph of this scene and may account for why the stumpee is remembering two little boys."

W66 has to be the Marty books by Elisa Bialk.  There are three books--Marty, Marty Goes to Hollywood,and Marty on Campus.  Marty is set during her senior year of high school.  She works on the paper, and the cover of the paperback edition shows her sitting at a typewriter. She is athletic and lives in a small town outside of  Chicago.  Marty Goes to Hollywood is set during the summer between high school and college when she has a paper assignment in Hollywood.  Marty on Campus is her first year at Northwestern University in Chicago in the
journalism school. 

Sounds like it might be THE MARVELOUS INVENTIONS OF ALVIN FERNALD by Clifford B. Hicks. ~from a librarian
Clifford B. Hicks, The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald  The Foolproof Burglar Alarm. The Sure Shot Paper Slinger. The Portable Fire Escape. "Alvin Fernald invented them all. His brain's working a mile a minute -- just ask his best friend, Shoie, or his little sister, the Pest. But even Alvin needs to think twice around the old Huntley place. It's like something out of a horror movie -- especially because no one's seen Mrs. Huntley in days. Can Alvin and his inventions crack the case?"

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Baum, L. Frank.  The Land of Oz.  Illustrated by John R. Neill.  Rand McNally & Co., 1904.  Trade paperback.  VG.  $8.

How about Mary Changes Her Clothes by Ellie Simmons (D. McKay Co., 1960)?  It's earlier that the years you gave but the title fits.

The Mary Frances Cook Book, or, Adventures Among the Kitchen People, Jane Eayre Fryer, 1912.  "The first Mary Frances book. Mary Frances spends 3 magical weeks in fairyland with the Kitchen People (humanized kitchen utensils) including Aunty Rolling Pin and others. By the end of the book, the young reader can cook a variety of dishes. Illustrated by JANE ALLEN BOYER with color frontis plus a profusion of color and line illustrations throughout the text by Margaret Hays."
The Mary Frances Cook Book by Jane Eayre Fryer (1912).  This book and the others in the same series were recently reprinted by Lacis [la-SEECE], a needlework shop in Berkeley, CA, and are available by mail order. Thanks again for your wonderful website!
You're amazing - my sister will be ecstatic!  And her children will be able to pass on the book too.....thank you, thank you!

Sounds like Jane Eayre Fryer's  Mary Frances series.  There's The Mary Frances Cook Book, 1912, The Mary Frances Garden Book, 1916, The Mary Frances Housekeeper, 1915, The Mary Frances First Aid Book, 1915, The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book, 1918, as well as the one you might be looking for, The Mary Frances Sewing Book, 1914. 

D11.5  I remember reading a book called Tessiethat was written in the late 1960s, about a black girl who goes to a white school.  I don't remember anything about her grandma working there, but  I do seem to remember Tessie straightening her hair, and there might have been something about her white blouse (hmm...maybe she was ironing both her hair and her blouse?).  Does this sound like what you're thinking of?  I looked up Tessie in a library catalog, and the only likely candidate I found was written by Jesse Jackson- I assume the same person who ran for president.
I have found the book, it is called Mary Jane and the author is Sterling. thanks for such a great service!!

Must be Clara Ingram Judson.  Published in the 1920's by Barse in green, and reprinted in red by Grosset & Dunlap.  Many titles -- Mary Jane in Canada, Mary Jane: Her Visit, Mary Jane's Winter Sports, Mary Jane: Her Book, Mary Jane's City Home, Mary James' Summer Fun, Mary Jane in Scotland, in France, at School, in New England, Down South, in Holland, in England....
I believe that M86 is the Mary Jane series by Clara Igram Judson.  There are 19 books in all. They are as follows:  Mary Jane Her Visit, Mary Jane Her Book, Mary Jane Down South, Mary Jane in England, Mary Jane in Canada, Mary Jane in New England, Mary Jane at School, Mary Jane in Switzerland, Mary Jane in France, Mary Jane's City Home, Hary Jane's Kindergarten, Mary Jane's Country Home, Mary Jane's Vacation, Mary Jane's Friends in Holland, Mary Jane's Winter Sports, Mary Jane in Italy, Mary Jane in Scotland, Mary Jane's Summer Fun and Mary Jane in Spain.  I hope that this is what the person is looking for.
Thank you so much. I do remember the "green binding". If you could find any one of the books, I
would appreciate it. I am particulary interested in Mary Jane Down South or Mary Jane in the City. If you do come across any books in the series, please send me price information.
Mary Jane by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow, published Doubleday 1959 "Mary Jane was one of six Negro students to enter newly integrated Wilson School which had junior and senior high in the same building. She knew there might be problems but Wilson was a better school than Dunbar and she was ambitious to take advantage of this opportunity. She saw herself as a "foreign ambassador" to Wilson. There were shocking experiences for a twelve-year-old girl to face but Mary Jane kept her head high and veiled her unhappiness and fear. ... Girls between ten and twelve can find here two engaging new friends, and will probably be as much concerned over the trouble caused by an ingratiating but obstreperous pet squirrel as over the problems of school integration." (Horn Book Jun/59 p.216)

Chase Craig, Mary Jane & Sniffles,1941.  There are numerous entries for this on the Internet. It was apparently a comic strip series created by Chase Craig that first appeared in "Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics" in 1941. According to www.toonopedia.com/maryjane.htm, "[Sniffles] was teamed with a little girl named Mary Jane, who could shrink to his size and have fantasy adventures with him in a land of living toys. At first, the series was titled ‘Sniffles & Mary Jane,’ but eventually that was reversed, giving its true star top billing…Mary Jane's exact technique for shrinking varied. At first she would sprinkle magic sand on herself, saying, ‘Magic sand, magic sand, make me small at my command!’ or sometimes ‘Oh, magic sand upon me fall, and make me very, very small!’ In 1949, the words became ‘First I shut my eyes real tight, then I wish with all my might! Magic words of poof, poof, piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles!’" Ebay.com is a likely resource to obtain copies.
There was a comic book about Maryjane and Sniffles. To make herself small she would say, "Magic words of poof poof piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles."
I'm one of those who sent you a stumper after the spot on NPR last Sat.  I just checked and someone has figured it out already!!!  Thank you so much.  As soon as I read the 'magic words' Mary Jane used to make herself small (‘First I shut my eyes real tight, then I wish with all my might! Magic words of poof, poof, piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles!’) I knew this was it.  I remember that!  Thank you so much.
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This is a book that had a character that was a mouse named "Sniffles".  The book followed the adventures of Sniffles and a young girl.  The girl could make herself the same size as Sniffles so she could go where mice went.  My father's older siblings nicknamed him "Sniffles" after the book. My Dad was born in 1941.

Chase Craig, Mary Jane and Sniffles.  Seems to be the same book as M148
Chase Craig, Mary Jane and Sniffles.  1940s-1950s.  This was a comic strip series that debuted in "Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics" in 1941. See the Solved Mysteries page under "Mary Jane and Sniffles" or check out their website for more details.
Chase Craig (creator), Mary Jane & Sniffles, 1941.  Sniffles was a cartoon mouse created by Warner Brothers in 1939.  He was licensed in 1941 for a Dell Comics monthly anthology where he was teamed up with Mary Jane.  Go here for the
whole story.

This has got to be the Bad Wednesday chapter 3 from Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers. Though it's Jane that goes into the plate, not Michael. She's angry and throws her paint-box at the plate, cracking one boy's knee. They try to keep her as their sister, but Mary Poppins rescues her.
Garner, Alan.  "The Owl Service."  1968.  Through an old dinner service found in the attic, three teenagers unwittingly awaken an ancient evil and are caught up in the reenactment of a tragic Welsh legend.  May be a pretty far cry from three boys playing "hosey," but again someone might look through it to see if it is NOT the china plate story.  Won a Carnegie medal and went into lots of paperback editions so should be easy to find.
The C57  story is chapter three "Bad Wednesday" from the book Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers
C57: Sure sounds like the chapter "Bad Wednesday": from Mary Poppins Comes Back - except it's Jane who goes into the Royal Doulton Bowl and finds more than she can handle. BTW, the illustration in that chapter is based on a real dish which can be seen at the Donnell(?) library branch in Manhattan - on the children's floor, of course! You can also see the umbrella (with a wooden parrot's head) and a reproduction(?) of the Dutch doll that Mary Poppins is based on. In another glass case around the corner are the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys!
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A little old woman had a bakery and a boy and girl would visit her.  She would somehow break off a couple of her old wrinkled fingers and come up with these beautiful stars to put up in the sky. Hope you can help me.

Travers, Mary Poppins.This is a chapter from Mary Poppins, but I understand it appeared in a slightly different version as a picture book, so maybe that's what you're thinking of.
#P115--Pasting cookie stars in the sky:  Man, Harriett, I can't believe you even posted this as a stumper.  It's so well-known and has appeared so often I thought everyone had it memorized by now.  There are two versions, one of them a chapter in Mary Poppins, by P. L. Travers, and the other a Little Golden Book from the 1950s illustrating just this story.
Yes, yes, head hung down abashedly.  Especially since I brought up the Golden Books variant the last time this was a stumper.  That one is listed on the Solved Mysteries page under Gingerbread Shop.
This may be one (or a combination of two) of the stories found in the Mary Poppins? It's one of the visits into town (maybe to Mrs. Correy?), and the woman breaks off her fingers and they become peppermint sticks. I remember vaguely a story about putting the stars in the sky, too.
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I'm looking for a book that was read to me as a child in the 1950s.  I have always thought it was an early Mary Poppins book but this could be wrong. It's about a nanny who takes care of two children, a boy and a girl.  This particular story involves them going to a shop and buying gingerbread. Each piece of gingerbread has a gold star on it.  The last line in the book runs something like "Were the stars gold paper, or was the gold paper stars?"

Travers, Mary Poppins.  The chapter you want is "Mrs. Corry."
Travers, P.L, Mary Poppins Comes Back, 1935.Mary Poppins takes the gold paper stars from the cookies and pastes them in the sky.
Travers, P.L., Mary Poppins, 1934.  The story "Mrs. Corry" is in the first Mary Poppins book.  It was also published as a Little Golden Book (called The Gingerbread Shop)--in that version, there were only two children, Jane and Michael (the babies were left out).
This is the "Mrs. Corry" chapter from Mary Poppins, or the little Golden Book, Gingerbread Shop, that was based on this chapter.
Travers, P.L. , The Gingerbread Shop: a story from Mary Poppins.  NY: Golden Books 1952.  I think this is on the Solved pages already - this excerpt from the books was published as a separate story by Golden Books (Simon & Schuster) in 1952, and is fondly remembered by a good many people who may never have seen the original books.
P. L. Travers , Mary Poppins.  If it helps, the scene described is from the "Mrs. Corry" chapter in Mary Poppins, including the question about the gingerbread stars.
Yes, this is from Mary Poppins (the first one).  You'll probably get 8 million other people saying so too, but am chiming in anyway.
P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins, 1934, 1962.  You're right!  I looked it up in the first book, Mary Poppins, in the chapter entitled "Mrs. Corry."  Mrs. Corry returns in other Poppins books, but the quote you cited is in the first one.
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins, 1934.  The episode you describe is in chapter eight of Mary Poppins, titled "Mrs. Corry".  You remember the story pretty well, except that Mary Poppins is taking care of four children (Jane, Michael, and twin babies John and Barbara) and the "last line" isn't at the end of the book (which has twelve chapters), but close to the end of chapter eight.  Please note that there are two editions of this book: the original version, and a revised edition that expunges racial stereotypes from chapter six, "Bad Tuesday".
P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins.  I'm pretty sure this is indeed the one  Mary Poppins pastes gold paper stars on the sky in one of the stories.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Reynal & Hitchcock, 1934. Early American edition, beautiful condition.  F/F.  $60 Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins in the Park.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1952.  Nice copy.  VG/VG.  <SOLD> Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins Opens the Door.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard and Agnes Sims.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1943. with dustjacket, VG/VG, $25.  another copy, VG.  <SOLD> Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins Comes Back.  Illustrated by Mary Shepard.  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.  VG/VG  <SOLD> Travers, P.L.  Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back. Illustrated by Mary Shepard (augmented color plates).  Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.  Larger format with color illustrations.  VG-.  <SOLD>

Hurd, Edith Thacher, Mary's Scary House, 1956.  Sterling Pub. co.  Illus. by Clement Hurd.
There is a book entitled Mary's Scary House, by Edith Thacher Hurd, but it wasn't published until 1956.  Illustrations by Clement Hurd, who also did Goodnight Moon.

Sounds like MARY WORE HER RED DRESS AND HENRY WORE HIS GREEN SNEAKERS, adapted and illustrated by Merle Peek.
Merle Peek, Mary Wore Her Red Dress (And Henry Wore His Green Sneakers).  Could be this one- it's about animals at Katy Bear's birthday party.  They all wear different colored clothing and the color is emphasized in the text.  I don't believe there is alliteration, though, so it may not be the title you are seeking.

Mara Kay, Masha.  Or possibly one of Mara Kay's other books?
Mara Kay, Masha.  This is the original poster.  I did some research after posting and I think that this is indeed Masha and the sequel is The Youngest Lady in Waiting. Unfortunately this seems to be a very difficult and expensive book to find now (the going price is $366.00!)

Masquerade

I think the book they are talking about is Masqueradeby Kit Williams.  It is a series of puzzles that when put together, tells you the location of a golden rabbit that Kit Williams had hid somewhere.  I think there is an edition out now that has the solution too.  I also wanted to say that this webpage is absolutely terrific!  What a good idea!
I love your site...and I think I have a few more answers for some of the stumpers. This is Masquerade by Kit Williams. And yes, alas, the treasure has been found.
see also Untitled
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Treasure hunt picture book from the 1970's.  The book is beautifully illustrated and is about a rabbit that is travelling somewhere.  There are large medieval-looking letters surrounding each illustration.  Most are black and some are red.  Supposedly, this is a code and the reader is challenged to break the code using the letters and hidden hints in the illustrations.  The code will lead you to a  a real life rabbit made of gold and jewels that the author himself buried.  I remember staring for hours at one illustration involving bees.  I am dying to find another copy of this book and to know whether anyone ever found the treasure.

Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979.  This is definitely the book you're searching for!  It was re-released in a paperback edition in 1993 as Masquerade: The Complete Book with the Answer Explained.  And yes, the treasure was found---you can read all about it in the book Quest for the Golden Hare by Bamber Gascoigne.
Kit Willams, Masquerade, 1993.  I'm sure this is the one. It was a Hare, rather than a rabbit, and yes, it was found. It was republished (including the answer) in 2001, the ISBN is 0894803697 . He laos worte several other 'puzzle' books.
Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1980.  As far as I can tell this must be the book you are looking for (this is one of my sister's favorite authors actually).  "On his way to deliver a splendid necklace to the Sun from the Moon, Jack Hare is diverted by a series of odd characters and when he finally reaches his destination he realizes that the necklace is missing. The reader is invited to answer several riddles and solve the mystery from clues given in the text."
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I remember a book from my childhood, but I have been unable to remember the name of the book.   The book was in my elementary school library between 1985-1988 so I figure that it was published sometime in the 70's or 80's.  The book is an illustrated book, and the last two pages are a picture find.  You have to find the rabbit in the garden (I think it was a rose garden).  If you find the rabbit, you write to the address in the back of the book, and you won an incredible prize (I think it was alot of money, autograph, or meeting with the author/illustrator). I never found the rabbit, but the illustrations were beautiful, Amazing!  I am 99.9% sure it is NOT a Beatrix Potter or Velveteen Rabbit book.  I think the front or inner cover page had a picture of a brown rabbit running, and a beautiful leafy background.  I think it had to do with a rose garden.  If it helps any, I think the book was an English/British book, because I think the address you had to write to was in England (or pretty far away for a little kid) and some of the words seemed to be spelled different (like "colour" instead of "color").  I would love to find a copy of this as a personal keepsake, and to find out if any child ever found the rabbit in the last two pages!  Thanks!

Kit Williams, Masquerade, 1979, copyright.  This was a best seller, and a lot of kids remember the illustrations and the promise of a treasure hunt, the search for the Golden Hare.
Kit Williams, Masquerade.  Possibly Masquerade by Kit Williams? There was a golden rabbit prize associated with deciphering the clues in it.
Williams, Kit, Masquerade, 1979, copyright.  Definitely this book.
Kit Williams, Masquerade.  Perhaps this is the famous puzzle book by Kit Williams? Every page does have either a hidden or obvious hare in the beautiful paintings, and there was a real buried treasure associated with the book. You can see page by page reproductions of the paintings here: http://www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams/masq.html.
Williams, Kit, Masquerade, 1979.  There was a later copy released with the solutions - Masquerade, the complete book with the answer to the riddle.
 

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Williams, Kit. Masquerade.  Schocken Books, 1979, 1st American edition 1980.  A fine copy with no detectable flaws.  F/F.  $20

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Williams, Kit.  Masquerade.  Schocken, 1979.  Fifth printing, 1981.  Ex-library edition, VG-/VG.  $15

Noel Streatfield , The House in Cornwall
Elizabeth Goudge, Linnets and Valerians, Dec. 2001, reprint.  I am sure of this one.  It's been reprinted. "When the four orphaned Linnet children are sent to live with their nasty grandmother, they decide at once that their new life is unbearable-and run away. Making their way through the English countryside, they first charm the gruff but lovable Uncle Ambrose and his gardener, Ezra, then stumble upon the eccentric Lady Alicia, who seems to have lost her family. And then the real fun begins! The Linnets start their search for the missing Valerians-but will they be thwarted by the witch Emma Cobley and her magic cat?" It is Ezra the gardener who is missing his tongue, I believe.
This is not Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge.  Ezra is not missing his tongue and the children are never kept in a tower by the sea.  The previous person is possibly confusing a plot point in Linnets and Valerians where Lady Alicia's missing son has been put under a voodoo curse (the voodoo doll has a pin in its tongue) so that he can not speak. This stumper has come up in rec.arts.books.childrens and several people have suggested The Master by T.H. White.  I have not read The Master and cannot confirm the plot to submit it as a stumper solution.
Well, I've just received a copy of The House in Cornwall by Noel Streatfield and it's not the book I'm looking for.  There are 4 children, not 2 the chauffeur indeed has no tongue, but he's not a tall Negro man who's been their caretaker and the children were informed of his missing tongue at the beginning of the book.  That being said, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the novel, and I'll let you know if The Master by T.H. White is the book I'm looking for.  (Oh, the joy of discovering all these books I never knew I missed!)
White, T. H., The Master, 1957.  This is it!  I'm so happy!  (Dancing around my cubby and making my co-workers stare at me...) Thank you, thank you - I hope I can now become the instrument of someone else's delight  I will continue to scan the stumpers and see if I can help others become as crazy/thrilled as I am.  Y'all are just the greatest!

Bill Harley, Dinosaurs Never Say Please, 1987.  The story is called Master of All Masters and I think it is a folk tale. We have a very funny version on a cassette tape by Bill Harley called "Dinosaurs Never Say Please."  I'm sure there are other book versions.  The wording in the story he tells is identical to your version.
A 'net search for "high topper mountain" pulled up several sites reprinting the short story "Master of All Masters." Apparently it's contained in the compendium English Folk and Fairy Tales collected by Joseph Jacobs. The story's punchline is: "Master of all masters, get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. For white-faced simminy has got a spark of hot cockalorum on its tail, and unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum."
Master of All Masters.  This is an English folktale that's been published in many compilations. It was also published as a children's picture book in 1972, illustrated by Marcia Sewall, entitled "Master of All Masters."  I'm not sure if her version had the man on a farm or not, though.
H59 Sounds like a version of the english folktale MASTER OF ALL MASTERS. Anne Rockwell and Marcia Sewall both did versions. Or it could be the one by Dick Gackenbach called ARABELLA AND MR CRACK ~from a librarian
The Marcia Sewall illustrated book was published by Little, Brown.  There's another edition, also from 1972, published by Grosset & Dunlap that was illustrated by Anne Rockwell, ISBN 0448214334 & 044826210x.
H59: "Master of all Masters." Shows up in many collections. I remember it from the My Book House series, 1920s. Here's Joseph Jacobs' edition.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Jacobs, Joseph.  Master of All Masters. Illustrated by Anne Rockwell.  Grosset & Dunlap, A Thistle Book, 1972.  An oblong, hardback picture book.  Worn at edges and especially corners, clean and crisp inside.  Hard to find.  VG-.  $35

Don't recognize the plot, but the "Marvin or Melvin" etc. in title memory and the description of the artwork reminds me of Jerome Beatty's MATTHEW LOONEY space series, illustrated by Gahan Wilson. Some of the art can be seen on this website.
A191 Could they be Moomins?  See the Back in Print page.
Beatty, Jerome, Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates.  NY Avon, 1974.  I agree with the first suggestion. The illustrations (Gahan Wilson) do show a rather puffy doughboy character, and the name Matthew Looney could be remembered as Melvin or Moony. Matthew is an alien - native to the Moon, and in this book he is leading an expedition to another planet when he is captured by space pirates - so he spends time in captivity. I haven't read this one, so I can't answer for the brewery or the book (but surely one CAN change the future? it's the past that can't be changed!), but otherwise this seems a likely answer.
Yes!  It is Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates by Jerome Beatty, Jr.  I checked it out of the library today.  Very cool!  Thank you so much for your help everyone!
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Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth
I believe this was a Scholastic series (around the 70's) about people who lived in the craters of the moon.  They were silly books with cartoon-like illustrations.  The one I remember had a judge who sucked some libation through his fountain pen and was caught when he actually sucked up some ink.  Also - the children were always being warned of not bouncing too much, because they'd be sucked into outer space.

Jerome Beatty Jr, Matthew Looney Series.  This sounds like the Matthew Looney series. The first is Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth. In that one, Matthew's uncle is in charge of an expedition of Moon people who will go explore Earth. Matthew wants to be on the crew. The people on the moon are convinced the Earth is lifeless because of all the poisionous water on it. The illustrations are very cartoonish--the moon people have large round heads.
Shot in the dark, but could this be the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron? Scholastic did republish them in the 1970's.~from a librarian
That's IT!!!  The Matthew Looney Series.  The one I was remembering was Maria and the Red Planet.  I have been looking for this book for 15 years!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Beatty, Jerome, Jr. Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth. illus by Gahan Wilson.  William R. Scott, 1965.  Ex-library in library binding.  Usual marks and stamp, pocket on front free endpaper.  Pages clean.  G.  $16  Beatty, Jerome, Jr. Maria Looney on the Red Planet. illus by Gahan Wilson.  Avon/Camelot Books, 1977.  First paperback printing.  VG.  $16

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.

Madeliene L'Engle, And Both Were Young.  This is possible though unlikely. An American girl goes to a Swiss boarding school and befriends a boy living nearby, who lives with a scholarly type. She is not supposed to meet any boys but the scholar and her school's art teacher facilitate their relationship because it helps the boy.
Madeleine L'Engle, The Small Rain, 1945, reprint 1985.  The Small Rain, focuses on Katherine Forrester, the daughter of distinguished musical artists, whose career as a concert pianist evolves through loves and losses. Katherine is a child growing up in a refined, yet bohemian, artistic ambience--theatrical as well as musical . . . . [Her] adolescence is lonely and difficult, but as Katherine advances to young womanhood, her heart as well as her talent is promisingly engaged.  Katherine has a relationship of sorts with her piano teacher, Justin Vigneras, at boarding school. In ther sequal, A Severed Wasp, she reflects on her life and you find out she does indeed marry him.
Francoise Sagan, A Certain Smile, late fifties.  The girl was named Dominique and the man was Luc.
Janine Boissard, A Matter of Feeling, 1981.  Boissard wrote several books about 4 french sisters: A Matter of Feeling (which is, I think, the book described), A Question of Happiness, (it could be this) and Cecile.  Here's the description I found for A Matter of Feeling: Events of a winter and spring in the life of the Moreau family, who have a happy, comfortable home outside Paris. Centers on seventeen-year-old Pauline, who hopes to be a writer, and her bittersweet romance with Pierre, a forty-year-old Parisian artist.
Today I checked and you definately solved it. There were a couple of other tries, but the one posted today was it!  A Matter of Feeling by Janine Boissard. I already found it at my library and have started reading it.  I am so impressed with your service.  Thanks so much for helping find this old book! 

Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth
My son found a paper back book in the 60's, which I seem to remember  was called 'Matthew LOONY'S VOYAGE TO EARTH, or something like that. It's about a boy who lives on the moon, where they don't believe life is possible on earth, who stows away on his father's spaceship and lands on earth. Zany drawings and funny story. does this ring any bells.?

You've got it.  Here's the scoop:
Beatty, Jerome Jr., Illustrated by Gahan Wilson MATTHEW LOONEY'S VOYAGE TO THE EARTH.  William R. Scott, 1961.  Avon Paperbacks, 1972. 

Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.  Thanks to Cathy from Google's rec.arts.books.childrens.  Solved quickly.  Hooray!
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late 60's or 70's, juvenile.  This book is about a girl, the daughter of a widower noble, who's sent away to be a page in a medieval castle.  Normally only pages are boys, and she trains with the other boys. She observes the behavior of adults at the castle and learns some hard lessons (one of the women she befriends commits suicide, in fact).  At the end she returns home as a young adult, only to find her father enfeebled and childhood home falling apart.  She takes over running her father's estate and I think falls in love with one of the pages she knew from her time at the castle.  I checked this out several times from the library as a young girl, but now I can't find it anywhere online or at the library.  I hope you can help me!

Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.  This sounds like The Maude Reed Tale, which was a children's/YA book that was based on a section of one of Lofts' novels for adults; I'm pretty sure it was The House at Old Vine, but could be wrong.  In any case, The Maude Reed Tale was different than the original story in a several ways.  Not all the details of the description match my memory of the book, but overall it seems like a good match.
Norah Lofts, The Maude Reed Tale.  At first I didn't think I was looking for this book (I didn't remember the wool merchant part) but as soon as I saw the cover art I knew it was.  Thanks!  I can't wait to reread this.  This site is great.

When I read your description, I ran up to my daughter's room where all my old Cinderella books are.  The good news is that I found the oversized, thin picture book with the yellow-green hard cover.  The bad news is that all I have left is the front cover and the text-  no title page (assuming there was one), spine, back cover, or identifying info.  The title is in bluish-purple capital letters, no author named.   I would describe the illustrations as stylized, with clothing and settings in a mishmash of styles from Elizabethan to Victorian.  The most amusing thing about it is how mod the Cinderella figure is- she could be a Bond girl, "I Dream of Jeannie," or a blonde 99 from "Get Smart," with long legs, late-60's hair, and almond eyes that look loaded with dark shadow and false lashes.  The text is different from the standard Perrault retelling, and from any other I've seen.  The fairy godmother is given the name Rowena.  Cinderella's ball gown is described as "a gown of pink silk, delicate as the petals of the rose and embroidered with crystals as blue as a summer sky.  Her headdress was of silver, spun by a fairy spider, and her veil, transparent as moonlight, was bordered with petals which bathed her in sweet perfume."  The illustrations, however, show no headdress or veil but a small pink coronet the spun silver component is the huge, Elizabethan-style stand-up collar you described, and there's a transparent Watteau train extending from it, bordered with a sheer pleated frill.  I have no idea if all this will help you, but assuming this is the same book you
recall, details might make it easier to locate!
Thank you so much for the response to #F47, but the dress worn by the Cinderella I remember was white; the predominant colors in the story were greens and grays.  Also, the name "Rowena" doesn't ring a bell.  Thanks, though!
The Maxton Series.  Hello!  I'm the person who submitted this stumper, and I'm writing to let you know that I found the answer.  This fairy-tale series was printed in Italy in 1960, each story featuring a different author and illustrator.  Published in the US as the Maxton series, the books were distributed in the UK by Odhams. The words "My Book of" appeared in the title of each volume in the series--My Book of Cinderella, My Book of the Sleeping Beauty, etc.  If you ever come across any of these books in your shop, will you let me know? Thank you so much!

I'm almost sure I remember this book too, from the early '70's, and that would make me think it might be a Parents Magazine Press book since we had a lot of those.  If it's the book I'm thinking of, the title could be something like "How to catch a..." (whatever it is), and the name is something like a squeezle or teazle or something silly like that...although I could be confusing that with PMP's Never Tease a Weasel which I know we also had.  Sorry I can't be more help, I tried searching a used books site but only came up with books on catching butterflies and heffalumps.  :-)
Alexander, Martha G., Maybe a Monster, 1968.  Must be this one:  A little boy builds a huge cage for the monster he thinks he is going to catch.  Then he checks the trap he has set and finds a rabbit.
Martha Alexander (author and illustrator), Maybe a Monster, 1968.  This is definitely the correct book: the text and
illustrations match the stumper's description exactly.  The boy digs a pit and covers it with branches, then builds a cage to hold the monster he expects to catch.  The cage (a large wooden structure that looks like a fort) is huge, with room to accomodate the creature's two heads, enormous tail, and big wings, as well as holes to allow fire to come out of its nose.  Then the boy puts on his football gear and arms himself with a slingshot, water pistol and rope before retrieving
the monster, which turns out to be a rabbit.  The last illustration (on the back cover of the book) shows the  boy, a smaller boy, and the rabbit all eating ice cream cones while sitting on top of the cage.  A cute little book, illustrated primarily in greens and browns, with one or two sentences per page.
Thanks for solving my bookstumper.  My boy, almost three, likes the book perhaps as much as his dad did.  I didn't respond right away because I had to wait for weeks to get an interlibrary loaner book to arrive to be sure it was the book.

Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. I was obsessed with this book for a while, so I know it's the one!
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. I think you'll find that this is The Maze in the Heart of the Castle by Dorothy Gilman. Gilman referenced Maze (without noting title or author) many times in her adult mystery The Tightrope Walker, citing it as a childhood favorite of the heroine of that novel. So many people wrote to her asking for details on this children's book, she had to admit that she hadn't yet written it!! Of course she did finally write and publish it, and its since become a bit of a cult favorite. It's a lot of fun to read Maze in the Heart of the Castle and Tightrope Walker as a pair, since one literally gave birth to the other!
Dorothy Gilman, Maze in the Heart of the Castle. This is Maze in the Heart of the Castle. Interestingly, the book is heavily featured in another Gilman book, The Tightrope Walker. I've always wondered which she planned out first
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. Definitely the book you're looking for. I LOVED this one as a kid, and read it over and over.
Dorothy Gilman, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, 1983. It sounds like The Maze in the Heart of the Castle...from the CIP data: Consumed by grief after the deaths of his parents, sixteen-year-old Colin accepts the challenge of the maze of Rheembeck Castle and begins to unravel the mystery of the maze within himself.  (And yes, it is that Dorothy Gilman)
etc.

K73  I think I may have the answer. Try MAY I STAY? by Harry Allard, illustrated by F.A. Fitzgerald, published by Prentice-Hall, 1978. A traveler stops at a castle and asks if he may stay the night. The man sends the traveler to his father, who sends him to his father and so on until the final father who is ancient and very small. I remember as a kid finding the illustrations creepy but fascinating. My only hesitation is that I didn't think the fathers were kings, but they were some kind of aristocrats because the ancestral home looked like a castle (but maybe my  memory is faulty - I haven't since the book since I was young). And I don't remember it being a matter of the oldest father being the wisest, but rather that he could grant permission as the eldest male. The book was based on a German fairy tale "Der Hausvater" so that be another avenue to pursue.~from a librarian
I just wanted to thank you for finding the book I remembered reading as a child. I finally found a copy of May I Stay? By Harry Allard and was happy to have this finally solved. About 15 years ago I went back to the public library where I had checked it out before, and went book by book trying to find this title. That is how obsessed I was with finding this book. Anyway another mystery solved in my life, thanks so much!

This is one of the McBroom books by Sid Fleischman. McBroom has about eight kids whose names all rhyme (except for little Clarinda).  I think this particular title might be McBroom's Zoo--I know they accumulate various animals because of some harsh weather, and it might be because it's cold.
Could this be one of Sid Fleischman's McBroom books? (Probably Here Comes McBroom -- the Booklist review refers
to words freezing in midair.)  The family had numerous children: WillJillHesterChesterPeterPollyTimTomMaryLarryandLittleClarinda.
This has to be Grandpa's Farm by James Flora (Harcourt, 1965) Tall tales where words, as well as bullets, freeze in the air till spring! From your Solved Pages!!!
Sid Fleischman.  This is one of the McBroom series of books. There are several, all filled with outrageous claims, and I don't remember which this particular claim came from.
Sid Fleischman.  One of his books about McBroom- though not McBroom tells the Truth (just had a quick look through that)
Sid Fleischman, McBroom series.  There are several books about the McBroom family, all tall tales about Ma, Pa and the
kids: Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry and little Clarinda--they have a farm that grows things in a single day, etc etc.
Sid Fleischman, McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm
P190 McBroom has many children, including Little Clarinda, and he tells tall tales. The freezing incident is in McBroom's Ghost which can be found by itself, or can be found in HERE COMES MCBROOM! by Sid Fleischman. ~from a librarian
P190: HAS to be one of Sid Fleischman's tall tales about the farmer McBroom. Don't know which, but they're all wonderful and funny. McBroom had 11 children in the series, I believe. 

Sid Fleischman.  Of course this is just a guess, but this reminds me of books by Sid Fleischman--I think he had a farmer character named McBroom.
Fleischman, McBroom's Ear.  The grasshoppers consume a phenomenally large ear of corn growing on McBroom's farm.  He has multiple children (some w/rhyming names) and when he calls them, the names are all run together (I think the first two are Will & Jill).

Mccall's Giant Golden Make-It Book, 1953.  I had this too (I may still have it buried somewhere) but I think it had the projects mentioned plus a lot more.  It definitely had the shiny cellophane binding.
I think this is the one:  Mc Calls Giant Golden Make-It Book.  Copyright: 1953.  Author: Peter, John.   Illustrator: Malvern, Corinne & Riley, Bob
Yes, that is it.  McCall's Giant Make-It Book.  Thanks so much!

Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Professor McWhinney, while on summer vacation from his duties as a physics professor at the local university, creates a marvelous gaseous concoction in his basement laboratory..."Z-Gas"! He proceeds to inflate his bicycle tires with this new gas and, after hours of practice, is able to pedal briskly and glide over trees and houses. A new flying machine! Professor McWhinney informs his wife, immersed in her needle work, that he is taking a journey across country to Hollywood to see the movie star Gloria Glamorous.
Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Haven't read it, but here's a description: Professor McWhinney, while on summer vacation from his duties as a physics professor at the local university, creates a marvelous gaseous concoction in his basement laboratory..."Z-Gas"! He proceeds to inflate his bicycle tires with this new gas and, after hours of practice, is able to pedal briskly and glide over trees and houses. A new flying machine! Professor McWhinney informs his wife, immersed in her needle work, that he is taking a journey across country to Hollywood to see the movie star Gloria Glamorous. The journey across the country by flying bicycle is beautifully chronicled and illustrated by Robert Lawson.
Robert Lawson, McWhinney's Jaunt. (1951)  Written and illustrated by the author.  Professor Ambrose McWhinney is the creator of z-gas, a remarkable substance that causes the tires of the professor's bike to ride at least a foot off the ground. The professor sets off on a cross-country jaunt filled with adventures.
Wow!  I'm stunned.  In just 24 hours your crack children's book experts solved my stumper.  Guess my memory of the book was rather flawed - the protagonist was a professor, not a boy.  Duh.  However, a tremendous thanks to those who took the time to help me out.

K53 Acting on a hunch, but this could be AMY & LAURA by Marilyn Sachs. Amy and Laura are sisters, and there is some envy involved. I couldn't find a detailed summary, and my copy is still packed away in storage. But it would be worth looking at. ~from a librarian
Doris Orgel, Bartholomew, We Love You!, 1973.  This must be Orgel's Bartholomew, We Love You!  (Also published by Scholastic under the title: Me and Emily and the Cat)

I cannot recall the title or the name of the author, but I remember reading a book like this. The family (mom, dad, boy, girl) comes to a new town in a converted garbage truck. The parents are hippieish vegetarians and the kids make alphabet burgers. The mother loves to sketch or photograph spiderwebs (even does it in the realty office) and she refuses to live in a modern home (crackerbox) so they eventually move into an old (Victorian?) home. That's all I can recall but perhaps 'twill help.
Lila Perl, Me and Fat Glenda. I've been trying to figure out this stumper for weeks. I couldn't remember anything more than the alphabet hamburgers part either, but whenever I'd type that phrase into Google I'd get a bunch of recipes. I just now tried again on a whim and this time pulled up "Me and Fat Glenda." One site's synopsis mentioned eccentric hippy parents -- the mother wore a black leotard and painted her room black, and the father drove a garbage truck and collected junk.
A105 alphabet hamburgers: I think I can confirm the suggested title, Me and Fat Glenda, by Lila Perl, published Clarion 1972. "Sara Mayberry, characterized by the family's former landlady as the only normal person in the 'pixilated' Mayberry family, becomes friends with Glenda, a very fat girl her own age, soon after Sara, her college professor father, and her mother move from California to conservative Havenhurst, New York in a secondhand garbage truck. Despite a number of complications, caused in part by Sara's father's outdoor junk sculpture and Glenda's mother's ensuing petition against the Mayberrys, the friendship between the two 7th graders manages to survive ... Sara's favorite food, alphabetburgers." (dustjacket blurb)
Thank you! That was it. I bought a copy and read straight through. It's amazing anyone could have identified it with all the details I forgot. I didn't mention the alphabet burgers, hippy parents, or even the character of Fat Glenda.
Perl, Lila, Me and Fat Glenda, NY Clarion 1972.  I'd like to add my vote to this suggested solution, based on this blurb.  "Sara Mayberry, characterized by the family's former landlady as the only normal person in the "pixilated" Mayberry family, becomes friends with Glenda, a very fat girl her own age, soon after Sara, her college professor father and her mother move from California to conservative Havenhurst NY in a secondhand garbage truck. Despite a number of complications, caused in part by Sara's father's outdoor junk sculpture and Glenda's mother's ensuing petition against the Mayberrys, the friendship between the two 7th graders manages to survive." It also mentions that readers may want to try Sara's favourite food "alphabetburgers". Which looks like a strong resemblance.
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I believe I read this book in the 80s, but my impression is that it was originally written much earlier than that. A young girl (perhaps around 12) and her family move to a new town. They don't fit in very well because of a few oddities. The father made large sculptures out of tin cans on the front lawn. And there was an older sister who painted her room in an odd way. I think she painted it black with white arrows going up the wall and across the ceiling. (That may not be exactly right.) The house was old, and I think the older sister's room was round and on one corner of the house. I don't remember the plot at all. The only incident I remember is that on Halloween the girl is trick-or-treating, and sees someone dressed as a ghost running towards her. There is a long paragraph at this point where she reflects that in such a situation where you don't know the intentions, or even the identity, of the person, it is impossible to know how to react, if you should run or stay. She was undecided, so she stayed put. It turned out to be her friend from school who was coming to warn her that vandals were at her house destroying her father's sculptures. That's all I can remember.

This sounds like Lila Perl's Me and Fat Glenda, which I also suggested for A105: "Alphabet Hamburgers." The protagonist, a young girl, has a mother who wears a black leotard, paints her room black and photographs spider webs  her father drives a garbage truck and collects junk.

P7 pipecleaner man: wow, another one I thought was unfindable - this has to be Me And Frumpet: an Adventure With Size and Science, by Evans G. Valens, introduction by Dr. Edward Teller, published Dutton 1958 "A model railroad, a little pipe-cleaner man, and an imaginative story introduce the basic laws of physics to young children. Illustrated with photographs. Ages 7 up." (HB Apr/58 p.79 pub ad)

A291 and T314.  Mayer, Marianna and Mercer, Me and My Flying Machine.  This is the book!  A Parents' Magazine Press book.  My brother had it as a child and now my 10 year old son has a copy.  They both specialize in building contraptions out of whatever is lying around the garage.
it has been solved I am so grateful    thank you sooooo much.....
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from the late 70's early 80's a book about a boy who builds an airplane in his garage and cant gt it out..last page is tomorrow I will build a rowboat....

A291 and T314.  Mayer, Marianna and Mercer, Me and My Flying Machine.  This is the book!  A Parents' Magazine Press book.  My brother had it as a child and now my 10 year old son has a copy.  They both specialize in building contraptions out of whatever is lying around the garage.

Eleanor Estes, ?Rufus M.  I have a similar memory of a similar uncle/niece situation and something about the little boy being "the youngest uncle in town." I've always remembered it as one of the Moffats series by Eleanor Estes, but this could be completely wrong.
Stella Pevsner, Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding, 1986.  Sounds like this one, but I can't remember any plot details.
Stella Pevsner, Me, My Goat, and My Sister's Wedding, 1986.  "Doug and his friends are delighted to goatsit for Rudy. They fix up their clubhouse, build a feeding trough, and fill it with goat fodder. But they have to keep Rudy a secret--and that's not easy when Doug's family is always around, trying to plan his sister's wedding."
Thank you so much for finding the book!  It's been driving me crazy for over a year.

Vera and Bill Cleaver, Me Too, 1973.  "Left to look after her retarded twin for a whole summer, Lydia determines to be the one to really change Lornie."
Vera and Bill Cleaver, Me Too.  This may be the one  it is about a girl called Lydia whose twin Lornie has an intellectual impairment.
Betty Ren Wright, The Dollhouse Murders, 1983.  This book is a possibility. Amy and Louann aren't twins, just one year apart. Amy does specifically refer to Louann as "exceptional" and she goes to a school for "exceptional children."  The main plot is, of course, about the children solving the 30 year-old murders, but Amy's frustration at always being expected to look after Louann and how they work it out is a major sub-plot.

Stella Williams Nathan, Me Too!, 1962.  A Whitman book--one of our favourites when we were very small.  Little Anne follows her slightly bigger sister Rhoda around, trying to ride on her tricycle and so on, always saying "Me too."  At the end they are so tired out from playing that they fall asleep on a couple of cushions.
Stella Williams Nathan, Me Too!, 1962, copyright.  A Whitman Tell-A-Tale Book, illustrated by Jessica Zemsky, about 2-year-old Anne, who tries to do everything her big sister Rhoda does. This is a small book, with a pink cover showing a blue-eyed, blonde toddler in a flower-print shirt pointing at herself.

Hope Campbell, Meanwhile, Back at the Castle, 1970.  "The Henderson family's plan for an island retreat takes an unusual turn when they discover the island they have just purchased in the St. Lawrence River is an independent country."
Solved already!  Thank you so much-

Herbert, F. Hugh, Meet Corliss Archer, 1944.  There was also a TV sitcom called "Meet Corliss Archer" during the 1954-55 season, as well as 2 movies - "Kiss & Tell," and "A Kiss For Corliss," starring Shirley Temple.

I sssumed from the description that you were talking about a real person, but if it's a fiction book you're looking for, maybe it's Last of the Dixie Heroes by Peter Abrahams.  "When an Atlanta businessman is invited to a Civil War reenactment, he becomes drawn into a world that somehow seems more real than his own."
Tom Dyja, Tom Dyja.  Sounds like this one, though I haven't read it myself.
Correction to my previous entry:  that should be author Tom Dyja, title Meet John Trow : a novel.  Publication date 2003.  Summary: When Steven Armour becomes a Civil War re-enactor to help gain control of his life, he gets more than he bargained for.
Your site solved one of my two postings so far. C181 -  Civil  War Re-enactor is a book called Meet John Trow which I just ordered.  I know it's not a kids book, but I tried to find it on other sites before the NPR story. Keep up the good work. This is a great site!

This is Madeleine L'Engle's Austin family series.  The book where Vicky meets Zachary at the national park is The Moon By Night the first book is Meet the Austins, and the others in the series are A Ring of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, The Arm of the Starfish and The Young Unicorns.
Madeleine L'Engle, The Moon By Night, 1963.  I think the reader is looking for a series of books by Madeleine L'Engle.  One is Meet the Austins  others are The Moon By Night, A Ring Of Endless Light, Troubling a Star, Stone For a Pillow, and The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas.
I think you will probably get alot of responses to this, and more precise ones, if my hunch is correct: Vicky Austin is the heroine and she appears in a series of books by Madeleine L'Engle.
Madeleine L'Engle, Meet the Austins.  This is the first of L'Engle's books in which the Austin family appears.
Madeline L'Engle, Meet the Austins.  The first book is Meet the Austins and I think the second is A Ring of Endless Light.

Holly Beth Walker,Ghost of Hidden Springs.  Sounds like one of the Meg Mysteries.  Meg Duncan and her friend, Kerry, solve mysteries. I believe Ghost of Hidden Springs involves a little girl and her mother coming to Meg's town because of an inheritance.  One of the conditions of the inheritance is that the girl has a birthday party which is a reenactment of the tragic birthday party many years ago where noone showed up to the party and the little girl ran down to the river.  Ends up the sister of the girl who died was jealous and had taken all the invitations and hidden them in a window seat and nailed it shut.  The sister lived to be an old lady and regretted her actions so she wrote in her will about having another birthday party.
Might M130a be one of the Trixie Belden books?  This was a series with Trixie as a "girl detective" similar to Nancy Drew.  I read them as a kid, and seem to remember one of them having a story line similar to the one described here, though I can't remember the title of it.  Trixie also comes from a large family, as the person asking thought,...and her friend was either an only child or only had one sibling, I can't remember which.
M130a mystery: I've found a copy of the suggested Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, by Holly Beth Walker, illustrated by Cliff Schule, published Whitman 1970. There are some very close correspondences - the two girl detectives are Meg Duncan, who is an only child, and her friend Kerry Carmody, who has 6 siblings. Kathleen Hannigan and her mother will inherit the old Hannigan mansion if they fulfill the terms of Amelia Hannigan's will. Kathleen looks just like Amelia's sister Kathleen, shown in a family portrait. The dead Kathleen's room is kept as she left it, and the pink satin dress she drowned in was cleaned and left lying on the bed. Kathleen died on her sixteenth birthday, when no one from the town showed up for the grand party, and she ran crying from the house, slipped by the stream and knocked her head on a rock. Meg discovers that Amelia had hidden the invitations, and finds them in a nailed-shut window seat.
Walker, Holly Beth. Meg: The Ghost of Hidden Springs. Racine, WI: Golden Press, 1978. "Meg and her friend Kerry tackle the oldest mystery in Hidden Springs. These twelve year-old supersleuths get haunted by the ghosts of the Hannigan family. When fifteen year-old Kathleen, the heir of the old Hannigan mansion, arrives from California with her mother, the girls put on their bravest faces and look for answers to the ghosts that haunt the mansion. This book is fun and exciting and is a non-stop read all the way through. This is a great book for young middle-schoolers. It would probably appeal to both boys and girls, and it is a part of a series of books, which could offer some foundation for the discussion of mystery as genre."
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I read this book (I think) between the ages of 8 and 12.  I was born in 1978.  I don't think it is a Nancy Drew book, although it could be.  The story involves a mystery of a young girl who suffered some kind of untimely death.  Years later another girl (either at her home or summer home) is haunted by her presence.  The only other thing I remember is that the culmination of the book takes place on the night of the living girl's birthday party.  I think the book was set in the 60's or 70's and I remember there being a lake and possibly a gazebo.  The birthday girl is wearing a yellow or a white dress.  I think it was a 16th birthday and I also think that it was a dance.

Holly Beth Walker, Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, 1970.  I haven't read this book, but the description on the Solved Mysteries "M" page certainly sounds appropriate!  Please check it out and let us know if this is the title you seek!
Holly Beth Walker, Ghost of Hidden Springs.  See Solved Stumper -  Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs
This seems to be Volume #4 of the "Meg" series, by Holly Beth Walker, published by Whitman Publishing Co 1970.  I'm uncertain if Meg is a legitimate part of the title, but we'll keep it for now, unless someone can clarify that.
Holly Beth Walker, Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs, 1970.  This one is on the solved mysteries page.

For some reason I was thinking of the Miriam Mason 1950s series, with The Middle Sister, The Sugarbush Family and Matilda and Her Family, but I don't know if this right...
Elizabeth Enright, The Melendy Family.  The first three books about The Melendys (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five) were also published together in one volume maybe that's why you remember the book being so big?
Perhaps the Moffat family series by Estes?  The "magic" part doesn't fit, but other than that....
Frank B., Jr. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes.  While the titles don't match the request, these books are about the hilarious adventures of a large family. Cheaper by the Dozen - No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan. First, there are a dozen red-haired, freckle-faced kids to contend with. Then there's Dad, a famous efficiency expert who believes a family can be run just like a factory. And there's Mother, his partner in everything except discipline. How they all survive such escapades as forgetting Frank, Jr., in a roadside restaurant or going on a first date with Dad in the backseat or having their tonsils removed en masse will keep you in stitches. You can be sure they're not only cheaper, they're funnier by the dozen. Belles on their Toes - Life is very different now in the rambling Gilbreth house. When the youngest was two and the oldest eighteen, Dad died and Mother bravely took over his business. Now, to keep the family together, everyone has to pitch in and pinch pennies. The resourceful clan rises to every crisis with a marvelous sense of fun -- whether it's battling chicken pox, giving the boot to an unwelcome boyfriend, or even meeting the President. And the few distasteful things they can't overcome -- like castor oil -- they swallow with good humor and good graces.
??Tove Jansson, ??Finn Family Moomintroll  It's not one of the Moominvalley books, is it?  Did they have a lot of children? Were they ever published as a set?
This is probably The Melendy Family by Elizabeth Enright (1941) 241pp. This orange volume consists of 3 novels about the Melendy family. The mother died, the father is often away working, and except for Cuffy, the housekeeper, there is little adult presents. No actual magic- but Enright does MAGICALLY recreate childhood and wonderful sibling adventuring with these exceptional children: Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver. Some feel that Enright has created, in the Melendys, one of the most realistic and memorable families in childrens literature. In the introduction to this volume Noel Streatfeild says "she writes better for children than any other living writer."

just guessing, but could this be Melissa Ann: a little girl of the eighteen twenties, by Ethel Parton, illustrated by M. A. Lawson, published Doubleday 1931? The story is set earlier than described, but is about Melissa Ann, called Mitty and how she "went to visit her cousin Lucy in Newburyport and of the home she won for herself, of the dolls the little girls played with, and the games they shared with plucky Dicky Purvis. But also it tells of traveling by stage, of the return of a sailor from a long voyage, and the launching of the brig, the 'Fair Melisssa'."
M88 melissa: possibly Melissa, by Ina B. Forbus, illustrated by Sue Felt, published Viking 1962. "Missy, a country girl, finds it hard to adjust to city ways. But her talent in music and a fortunate accident make her a real part of a city family. Ages 9-12." (HB Oct/62 p.524 pub ad) "Melissa goes to visit her cousins and has many adventures with them."
Thanks for the replies!  The name Ina B. Forbus rings such a bell, especially since it matches the place where the book was shelved in the library, and the summary and date fit well enough that I'm sure that's the one.

Tomi Ungerer, The Mellops Go Flying
Tomi Ungerer, Mellops Go Flying, 1957.  Yes, that's the book!    Thank you so much

G145 It might be worth taking a look at MEMO TO MYSELF WHEN I HAVE A TEENAGE KID by Carol Snyder, 1983. It's about a girl who thinks her mother will never understand her. Then her mother gives her the diary she keep when she was a teenager. ~from a librarian
Maybe -- Memo: To Myself When I Have a Teenage Kid by Carol Snyder (c1983).  "Reading the diary her mother wrote when she was thirteen helps Karen understand both her mother and herself better."
Snyder, Carol, Memo: To Myself When I Have A Teenage Kid.  I think I found the answer to my bookstumper.  Since the book is (apparently?) out-of-print, I had a hard time verifying if "Memo" was the book I remembered.  But the title sounds familiar and the brief synopsis I was able to glean seems about right.

D13: Possibly it sounds like Memoirs of a London Doll by Richard Henry Horne. It traces the life of a doll and her owners. It is from the 1900s.
Another title tracing a doll through generations is Deborah Remembers.  Unfortunately, I forget the author and our copy is not at hand.
Could this be Hitty ?  I don't remember the author but it is still on the bookstore shelves, it is a Newbery book, I think.  Or, there  is a book by Rumer Godden about a simple "penny" doll who lives in a dollhouse with other dolls and the evil, conceited Marchpane.  I forget the name of this one, but it is certainly by Rumer Godden.
Hitty is by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop, 1929.  The doll's name is, of course, Hitty.  Rumer Godden has written several doll books, including Candy Floss, Dolls House, Mouse House, and The Fairy Doll.  But I'm not sure any of these are a match, although from the scant description, it might be hard to pin this down.  Not forgetting the favorite Wonderful Fashion Doll by Laura Bannon.
Probably too late, but from Horn Book again, Nov-Dec/50, ad for children's books published by Thomas Crowell: Angelina Amelia, a Doll, by Henietta Jones Moon. Illus. in three colors by the author. An appealing picture-story of a doll that lived through several generations in the same house. Ages 3-6
Tracy Friedman, Henriette: The Story of a Doll, 1986.  This is just a guess, but it might be Henriette: The Story of a Doll by Tracy Friedman. It's about a French doll named Henriette who belongs to a very old woman on a Southern Plantation just after the Civil War. She was handed down to the old woman's daughter, but she was killed during the war and the granddaughter Amanda (Henriette's rightful owner) is living in an orphanage.  Henriette travels to join her, meeting people, animals and having adventures along the way.
Well, 'Araminta' is the name of Grandmother's Doll in the 1931 book by Elizabeth Bouton Gladwin. Though that doll only goes from Grandmother (who got her from London in 1875) to Betty. Araminta is found in the attic and has 'all her furniture and clothes' and even a diary she wrote herself.
The red poster mentions Deborah Remembers. It's by Lillie V. Albrecht, published by Hastings House 1959. "Deborah is a doll in a museum reminiscing about her 250 years of life for a group of younger dolls. Unlike Hitty, she is merely a device to connect a number of stories of New England life and history, from the Deefield massacre, the Revolution, the Underground Railway, the Civil War, to World War I. The stories are lively and interesting."
#D13--Doll hand-me-down:  An obscure doll story is The Journey of Bangwell Putt, based on the history of a famous early American doll.  Since she was around for many years before ending up in a museum, she may well have gone through several owners, though the same person did possess her for eighty years!
D13 doll hand-me-down: probably way too late, but Little Lottie, by W. Mathiessen, published Burke 1961, 124 pages is about "Little Lottie, a doll which belonged to Ruth's grandmother. This story tells of her adventures
after Ruth acquires her. These adventures are all quite natural and in the course of them the doll has several devoted owners. The interlude with the doll-collector is very charming and will intrigue little girls." (JB Jan/61
p.25) Actually, it would be very helpful to know whether the poster means that the book itself was published in the early 1900s, or whether it tells the story of a doll made in the 1900s!
Mary Fielding Moore, Dorcas the Wooden Doll, 1944.  The other suggestions also sound plausible but here is an additional one, which I remember from my childhood.
D13 doll hand-me-down: another possible is Dorcas the Wooden Doll, by Mary F. Moore, 16 drawings by Peggy Fortnum, published by Sylvan Press, London 1945. "The adventures of Dorcas, the wooden Doll, start in the reign of Queen Anne and go up to the present day." Not much detail though.
If you are placing this book in the early 1900's the suggestion of Memoirs of a London Doll seems a good possibility. Published first in 1846 it spans 100 years of London history as the doll Maria Poppet tells her tale.Over the years it has appeared in newer editions . In 1922 there was an edition illustrated by Emma Brock. Most recently, in 1967, it was reprinted. This is considered a minor classic.

Saw this online Memories Live Forever : A Memory Book for Grieving Children by Sharon Rugg, Julie Rugg, Amanda Mullis, Leah Haider (Illustrator)Reading level: Ages 9-12 Paperback 3rd edition (May 1996) ISBN: 0965241009 Probably too recent to be the one wanted, but may be a substitute if it can't be found.
D32 death and losing someone: perhaps the book wanted is an earlier edition of the book suggested, since the 3d edition was published in 1996 and the book wanted was bought in 1995.

I think you're looking for the Meg mysteries by Holly Beth Walker.  Meg and the Mystery of the Witch's Stairway, Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds, Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw, etc.  We don't have any in stock right now, but let me know if you'd like me to look for them.  And let me know if I'm totally wrong about my overly confident answer!
Yes, that sounds like the series I'm looking for. I would appreciate it if you could look for a set or even one at a time, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy with whatever you can find! Thank you so much.

Pizzey Erin, The snow leopard of Shanghai, 1988.  Could the stumper be confusing two books?  Erin Pizzey'sThe Snow Leopard of Shanghai tells the story of twin daughters of a diplomat in China who flee after political unrest in 1917.
Madeleine Brent, Merlin's Keep.  Have you looked at some of Brent's other titles? I mention this one, even though the title isn't similar, because the plot is. Stormswift is another possibility.
Madeleine Brent, Merlin's Keep, 1978.  This is it. One of Peter O'Donnell's (he wrote as Madeleine Brent) wild adventures: "The distance between a Tibetan monastery and Merlin's Keep, in the English countryside, was a long one and to Jani, reared in Tibet, nearly incomprehensible. Nor could she grasp the full meaning of the high Lama's words to her that wintry day: "I see the woman in red who will be your friend, and through her will come the one to fear, who will be your enemy, the Silver Man..."
Brent, Madeleine, Merlin's Keep, 1977.  The mention of Madeleine Brent brings to mind this title of hers, where Jani lives in the Himalayas with her protector Semburr, they flee from pursuit by a British soldier, and Semburr dies. Jani develops diphtheria and almost dies, but recovers and is sent to England. She leaves an orphange and goes to live at Merlin's Keep. After some years she discovers a letter to herself written by Semburr pasted between the endpapers of a book, and learns the truth about her parentage and inheritance. She returns to Tibet eventually, to help her rescuer and friend.
THANK YOU!!! Merlin's Keep must be it!  I remember the part about the "woman in red," "the Silver Man," and the name, "Semburr," and the rest of the description is correct.  I would never have thought the title was Merlin's Keep.  I have requested the book from my library!

M43 sounds like Elaine Horseman: The Hubbles' Treasure Hunt ; 1965, W.W. Norton & Co. Hardbound picture cover, 175 pages. Illustrated by John Sergeant. Sequel to Hubble's Bubble. When five children find a cryptic message referring to hidden treasure inside an old doll, they use an ancient volume of spells to travel back in time and solve the mystery. I haven't read this, but I have Hubble's Bubble, and the children are British, so this sounds close, and the date is probably about right.
Another possibility: An ad from the Jan/53 issue of Junior Bookshelf: Merlin's Magic (by) Helen Clare. This is the story of six children who, on a lovely summer's day, set out on an ordinary enought treasure hunt. But it is not long before strange things begin to happen: and the weathercock on the stable arch becomes enchanted and points the children towards the four quarters, where they are to search for their treasure. With the help of a
very practiced magician and a fabulous and funny beast of great antiquity called a hippogriff, they are carried away on the most remarkable adventures, back into times past, away into far planets and distant seas, and at last to the very stronghold of imagination itself ... On their way they meet many heroes, some who lived once on this earth, others from the world of myth and story. At last, with the help of the sword of King Arthur and the drum of Francis Drake, the enemies are defeated and the treasure saved.  Helen Clare is a pseudonym for Pauline Clarke (Return of the Twelves)
Thank you very much! Someone has correctly identified the book I queried in your Stump the Bookseller section.  Helen Clare's Merlin's Magic is it!
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I am terrible at remembering the names of books I loved as a kid- and you seem to be able to get all the answers!.  The one I'm inquiring about is set in England and involves a group of children who set off on a fortune hunt, following clues written on slips of paper that have been hidden in secret places, each clue leading to the next.  The children break off into groups, and the story quickly slips into fantasty.  In particular, I remember one group being suddenly taken up by the god Mercury and transported to the planet bearing his name. Judging by the few illustrations there were in the book (all black and white pen drawings) I suspect the story was written in the 1930's. I was so enthralled by the idea of  fortune hunts that I started creating them for my own friends in the neighbourhood.  Do you have any idea what this book might be?

#F37--Fortune Hunters:  see #M43--Mercury.
Isn't this the same as M43 Mercury?
A possibility. Here's the Junior Bookshelf (July 1953) review: Clare, Helen. Merlin's Magic, illustrated by Cecil Leslie. 204 pages, 8x5. Bodley Head (1953): "We begin by following the trail of what appears to be
an ordinary summer afternoon's treasure hunt, though the mention of a "classical beast of great antiquity" and the fanciful names of some of the children should have prepared us for the flight into the world of fantasy which soon follows. Each child has to follow a clue which leads to the intangible treasures of his own heart and mind, and in each case the search is imperilled by the appearance of an army of robot-like monsters, who, lacking imagination themselves, want to seize it from those so gifted. The contrast betweent the glories of the days of King Arthur, Elizabeth I or Kubla Khan, and the Wellsian atmosphere created by the robots is too sharp ... the characters of romance are not always true to their periods either; no one minds the delightful hippogriff lapsing into Cockney, but to find Queen Morgan le Fay speaking of people "barging about" or Sir Walter Ralegh mixing himself up with Edward Lear's Jumblies is a bit odd."

Might be Merlin's Mistake.In Merlin's Mistake by Robert Newman.  There' a black knight, a 15 (or so) year old boy on a quest with the brown haired sister, while her blonde sister stays home.  The questing sister has used makeup to age herself.  Don't remember anything special about the moon, though.  The black knight turns out the be the questor's father, who'd had amnesia.  There's also a companion, Tertius, on whom Merlin cast a spell which gave him knowledge of science, instead of magic.  Does that sound familiar?  They get Merlin out of Nimue's hold w/gunpowder.
Edward Eager, Knight Magic,1999.Your stumper reminded me of Knight Magic by Edward Eager, who has a wonderful series of books that take the rules of magic very seriously! Here is the description of the book I think you might be looking for: Four cousins, Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack, have an extraordinary summer when, after an old toy soldier comes to life, they find themselves transported back to the days of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe.
Robert Newman, Merlin's Mistake, 1970.I think this must be it - and was a favorite of mine. Tertius has been given all future knowledge by Merlin, which is a bit of a curse in medieval England. He joins forces with an idealistic young squire, Brian, to find Merlin. Brian's father, who had disappeared, is the Black Knight. The dark-haired sister disguises herself as an old woman and joins them on the quest.
The Perilous Garde. This may be a long shot, but it did involve a quest with one sister. They go underground, to land of evil fairies and he is kept enchanted for a while, but the sister is able to bring him out of it through her love. There is a full moon ceremony and he is supposed to be sacrificed, but they escape. Then, she's afraid he will fall in love with her more beautiful sister, but of course, he doesn't.
robert newman, merlin's mistake.this is definitely merlin's mistake by robert newman. thank you all so much! :)

Are you thinking of Jane Yolen, The Mermaid's Three Wisdoms ('78)? The girl (about 12 yrs old) is deaf.

M3--Merrylegs by Paul Brown-this is a really cute book about a little boy and his toy rocking horse, with great illustrations.
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At night a boy's rocking horse (or perhaps statue of a horse?) becomes real.  The horse is white with a black mane and tail.  It's possible that, like Pegasus, the horse flies. I think this was a short book, with lots of illustrations.  The illustrations were bright and colorful, and rather cartoonish and flat, not realistic.

Merrylegs the Rocking Pony by Paul Brown, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946.  Scarce!

Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear, 1942?  Maybe not the same book, but pretty similar.  Little Brown Bear has a birthday party for his mother and they eat a white cake with pink frosting  he goes blackberry picking, and his mom make a pie with the berries (no mention of dying his shirt)  he invites his friends to a party and has doughnuts and milk.  There are 10 stories in all.  The cover of the book is orange with a drawing of Little Bear in black, and the book is illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell.
Elsa Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear.  Could this person be looking for one of the Little Bear books?  The only one I can find just now is the first one, which is not the one being looked for, but there are several in the series, and the situations described do sound familiar.
This book, as described, seems like the book for which I am searching!  Not sure if it's the same book, but I would have read it in the late 1950s or early 1960s.  I remember a picture of a picnic that was very detailed (I was most impressed by the variety of pies).  I also remember the dying of the shirt, etc.
Still think the original requester was closer to the mark! I definitely remember the dyeing of the shirt, the picnic (seems like there were 2, with the first one all chocolate cakes, then they get it right -- the rich full-color illustration I remember and the phrase "even chocolate cake") AND the brick bedwarmer.  I remember the cover as red (somewhat like "Book Trails" covers).  Minarik's "Little Bear" has Sendak illustrations, which are not the same.
Elizabeth Upham, The Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear, 1952.  This book contains ALL the stories you mention.  The cover for my 1965 reprint is green, however, but an earlier reprint might have a different color.  (There is a 1955 reprint, also.)  The illustrations are by Marjorie Hartwell.  The stories you mentioned are:  Little Brown Bear and the Picnic (everyone brings chocolate cake to the potluck picnic), Little Brown Bear and the New Blouse (the bear stains his new white blouse eating raspberries in the woods and his mother dyes it red when she can't remove the stains), Little Brown Bear at Grandmother's (the bear spends a winter night at Grandmother's where she heats a brick to keep his feet warm).  There are 16 stories in this book (97 pp.)
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Collection of little bear or little brown bear stories in one book.  Red hard cover book medium size probably 50's or 60's. this is a collection of stories about a little bear not the little bear that is more popular and had a show on nickelodeon.  One of the stories was specifically about his little tin cup he leaves out in the rain by the water pump and when he goes to get it several days later it is all rusty.  His mom suggests painting it red and he does and is happy now.  I wish I could remember at least one or two more of the stories in the book but that is the only one I can specifically remember.

Elizabeth Upham, Little Brown Bear and His Friends, 1952.  This is definitely a Little Brown Bear book.  The story to which you refer is "Little Brown Bear and the Tin Cup"  the storyline is exactly as you describe. Elizabeth Upham printed her stories in more than one book.  I found this story in Little Brown Bear and His Friends and The Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear (c. 1952)  it may appear in others.  Look in the Solved Mysteries to see some of the stories of Merry Adventures of Little Brown Bear  perhaps that is your book. Little Brown Bear and His Friends includes:  LBB and the Red Sleeve, LBB and the Birthday Present, and LBB's Happy Thanksgiving (there are nine stories in this book).
Elizabeth Upham, The Merry adventures of Little Brown Bear.  Solved my own stumper.  found several copies of this title and others by upham.  thanks.

There is a Disney book- Robin Hood and the Great Coach Robbery (1974) that features a fox as Robin and a bear as Little John.
There are green-covered versions that fit the right date (say 1960-75) by Rosemary Sutcliff, Howard Pyle, and Roger Lancelyn Green.  However, none of those seems to fit the description of a learning-to-read book.
I'm the original stumper requester... guess my description was unclear. It wasn't specifically a learn-to-read book, and we don't think it's Disney because Disney's had a fox as Robin Hood and the book we're looking for didn't. Thanks for trying :)
Walt Disney, Robin Hood, 1973.  Upon consulting with my husband's older sister, I've decided to ask more details about the Disney version, with a glossy green cover. Anyone seen this? I've come up with some hits on searches that would be around the correct date, now I just need to know which is 'glossy and green' Sure appreciate the help!
Disney, Green and glossy- this fits: Robin Hood -story and pictures by the Walt Disney Studio-Golden Press-1973. Cover shows Robin (fox) leaning against a tree that has a wanted poster of himself. Endpapers have nice map of Nottingham, Sherwood Forest etc.
Howard Pyle, Robin Hood.  This edition of ROBIN HOOD sounds very much like one I had and enjoyed while growing up -- unfortunately, I don't recall the publisher, and the book isn't easily retrievable now.  What I do remember:  The book was large, had a mostly-green color illustration on the cover, and had a green spine and back.  It was part of a series of
childrens' versions of classic literature -- possibly but not necessarily from Time-Life.  (I want to say that the Robin Hood book was #4, but that's a guess.)  Others in the series were Charles Kingsley's THE HEROES, Owen Wister's THE VIRGINIAN, and a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories.  Although the back covers of the books stated "complete and unabridged", this wasn't necessarily the case -- in particular, I was peeved as a child that a sizeable chunk of "A Study In Scarlet" had been omitted from the Holmes volume.  The interior pages had wide side margins in which notes and annotations were inserted highlighting obscure or unusual material in the texts.
Pyle, Howard, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, 1968, reprint.  Classic Press (Santa Rosa, CA), 1968  ISBN 0716632039.  I've now had a chance to do some Web-spelunking which confirms in virtually all details my memory of the series mentioned in my previous note (it seems to have been called the "Educator Classic Library").  Moreover, the publication date is about right -- I guarantee this is the edition I had as a youngster, and I'm almost sure it's the one the original poster is thinking of as well.
Illustrated by Don Irwin, #9 in a series of 12 Educator Classic Series.

Anonymous, Story of the Merry Little Grig:  Rebus Riddle Reading, 1928.  I can't pin down the whole book you're looking for, but I can steer you to this bit, anyway:  "Collection of stories about elf-like grigs told in rebus form with small pictures
replacing key words."
Publisher info for above:  Newark, NJ: Charles E Graham, 1928.  Alternate title = The Merry Little Grig & His Good Time.

HRL: I think I've seen this one before...
Lang Campbell, Merry Muprhy, the Irish Potato, 1929.  This is the book you want - all about an Irish potato, from the right time period and contain the "Merry" refrain :)

Re: D48, my sister was able to help me figure out that the illustrator is Edward Gorey and from there I found a list of his books and found it ... it's Merry, Rose, and Christmas-Tree June.  Thanks so much for the site ... it has gotten us reminiscing happily!
D-48 is a wonderful old story called Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June.  It is by Doris Orgel and the pictures were done by an Edward Gorey.  It was a Scholastic book and published in 1970. The tattered cover on my book is pink and has 3 dolls and a cat on it.
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I am searching for a book that I believe I got through the Weekly Reader Book Club around 1970. It was about a little girl who went to visit (I believe) her wealthy aunt. The aunt takes her to a doll store so the little girl can buy a new doll. The little girl bypasses all of the fancy talking dolls and chooses a plain one. She may actually break one of the dolls causing it to go slack jawed. The other thing I remember is that the aunt holds a dinner party in which she has something like duck and wild rice and cherries jubilee and the little girl would much prefer chicken and tame rice. I believe the length of the book was similar to "No Flying in the House". Any ideas on what this might be?  Thanks very much for your help.

I think both G66 and T101 are thinking of Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. It appears on your Solved Stumpers page, and it was recently republished. ~from a librarian
This is definitely *NOT* Magic Elizabeth.  No stores, no shopping trips, no fancy dinner.
I appreciate your reader's comments regarding Magic Elizabeth.  I, too, looked at that description but decided Magic Elizabeth was not the book because in my book, the aunt takes the little girl to a doll store and the aunt is pressuring her to choose a modern doll that walks or talks. I'll keep monitoring the site to see if others have recommendations.  Thank you so much.
I originally posted that the answer was MAGIC ELIZABETH when the only clue was that it involved an aunt and a doll. With the addition of more clues, it's clear that it's not MAGIC ELIZABETH. The book the person wants about a great-aunt, her great-niece and three dolls is   MERRY, ROSE, AND CHRISTMAS-TREE JUNE by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Edward Gorey, 1969. I'm sure about this because I still own my very tattered copy from childhood. It also appears on your Solved  pages. ~from a librarian
You're right, you're brilliant!  The title IS Merry, Rose and Christmas tree June.  Thanks so much! Harriett, do you happen to have any copies???
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THE ORDINARY DOLL?  My sister and I are going nuts trying to remember this one..It's about a doll who lives on a dusty shelf in a toy store who thinks she will never be sold because she is ordinary. she is bought by a little girl with one or two other dolls just like her...free associaltion memory:  brown hair, blond braids, plain dresses, illustrations and Scholastic published it!

#D65--Dolls, Christmas, dusty store shelf:  Sounds a little like The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden.
D65 dolls, christmas: I took a look at The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, illustrated by Adrienne Adams, published Macmillan 1958 (also illustrated by Barbara Cooney, published Viking 1985). Holly is a blonde doll with brown eyes and a red Christmas dress. The sinister stuffed owl Abracadabra tries to keep her from being bought on Christmas eve. Ivy is an orphan girl with brown hair and a green dress. Ivy gets both Holly and a family at the end of the story. However, Holly is given as a gift, by herself, not bought with others, and she had only just arrived at the shop that Christmas, so there's no dust. Could it be Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June, by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Edward Gorey, published Scholastic 1970? That has more than one doll and dusty shelves, along with a Christmas theme.
D65 dolls christmas, dusty shelf: Merry, Rose and Christmas Tree June seems likely. In I. Greedy's Distinguished Doll-arama, all the dolls "had strings coming out of their bellies or buttons on their backs, and could do the most distinguished things ... unlike ordinary dolls, these had already been given names ... except the forgotten doll up on her shelf" who doesn't have buttons or strings. When Jane is in the shop looking at the distinguished dolls, none of which are nice to play with, the cat Cheaperthanmousetraps knocks down a box of Christmas ornaments from the "high, dusty shelf" along with the forgotten doll. "She was a tiny bit taller than Rose and a tiny bit smaller than Merry (the other two dolls Jane owns). She wore a cobweb-covered dress under which, Jane knew, there'd be no strings to pull and no buttons to press." Her eyes and dress are green. Merry has "brown braids, just like Jane" and Rose has short black hair, and they wear "cotton dresses - the kind Jane wore herself." So it looks like a pretty good match.
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Dolls named similar to Mary Rose and Christmas Tree June.  Doll sits in store where toys play at night till girl gets her.

Check several titles by Rumer Godden...
Rumer Godden, The Story of Holly and Ivy. I know you've already been directed to Rumer Godden, but reading your description made me confident that it is The Story of Holly and Ivy, which is about as sweet a Christmas story as you can hope for.  I have an ancient, well-loved paperback of it.
Doris Orgel (author),  Edward Gorey (illustrator), Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June, 1969.  Definitely Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June. When Jane goes to visit her aunt, she forgets her beloved dolls Rose and Merry, so her aunt decides to buy her a new doll - a wonderful, expensive doll. But at the store, Jane has trouble choosing among all the fancy dolls - including some that talk, walk, dance, etc.  (While trying them out, she gives bubblegum to Talking Tillie, who has asked for it - causing the doll's jaw to drop off completely.  She also over-pulls the string on Bella Ballerina, causing her legs to drop off.)  Just when Jane is about to give up on finding a doll she likes, the store cat jumps onto a high, forgotten shelf, knocking down a box of Christmas Ornaments - and an ordinary doll, which is exactly what Jane wanted.  She names the doll "Christmas Tree June" because she came tumbling down with all the Christmas ornaments, and because it was during the month of June.
Orgel, Doris, Merry, Rose, and Christmas-Tree June.  Knopf, 1969.  "Unhappy without the dolls she left at home, a little girl is promised a new one by her great-aunt."
Doris Orgel, Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June.  This must be the one.
Rumer Godden, The Story of Holly and Ivy.  Ivy is an orphan, Holly is a doll.  Ivy ends up with a home, and Holly ends up with Ivy.

This is based on an old folktale called Stone Soup. There are many versions and illustrations of it, most notably Caldecott-winner Marcia Brown's 1947 version and Ann McGovern's Scholastic version in 1968.  I thought your title was correct, as it sounds familiar, but I'm not bringing up a book with that title. I think I have it confused with Rene d'Harnoncourt's Mexicana.
Katherine Hitte (and William D. Hayes), Mexicali Soup, 1970.  This is a more plausible solution here than Stone Soup.

Bedford, Annie North, Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping, 1953.  "Everyone has fun when Mickey Mouse does his Christmas shopping  Mortie and Ferdie have an adventure they don't expect."

P88: This is The Middle Sister by Miriam Mason, 1947. Written at the second-grade level or so, it's about a timid girl who asks her uncle for his lion's tooth to give her courage, and he agrees on condition that she take care of an apple tree and make him an apple dumpling when he comes back. On the back cover, it says "...but who would expect it to be so hard - and so scary - to look after an apple tree?"  The family also, at one point, takes in a small lost Sioux (?) boy in Minnesota until his family is able to find him and take him home. By the time Sara fulfills her end of the bargain, she has already learned how to be brave on her own, but only the reader realizes this.
Thank-you so much for indentifying my childhood memory.  I actually found and successfully purchased the book from E-bay the same day I learned the title.  I hope to receive it any day now.  I will continue to check your web-site frequently and help "solve" stumpers when possible.  I just love this site!!
I'm another NPR junky who visited your site after listening to the NPR piece.  I came to your site with the plan to submit a book stumper, but after a couple hours searching through your Mysteries Solved, I found what I was looking for:  The Middle Sister by Miriam Mason.  Yeah!!  When I was young I read a copy that had been my Mom's.  I now have a daughter and am excited that I might be able to share this with her.  My local library has a copy, but I'll be moving to a smaller town soon, so if it is as good as I remember, I'll be back to your site to purchase.  Thanks for offering such a cool service.  I likely will be back, and will definitely forward your web address to my mother-in-law who is a retired librarian. Thanks!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Mason, Miriam. The Middle Sister.  Scholastic, 1947.  Softcover.  Seventh printing, 1973.  Previous owner's inscription on title page.  VG.  $5

John Verney, Friday's Tunnel?,  c.1952.  The combination of England, horses and gobstoppers strongly suggests Friday's Tunnel-- or at least another in the series of books about the Callender family, by John Verney. The plasticine models are *not* in Friday's Tunnel. I don't remember the other books as well. They are February's Road (quite likely), Ismo (not likely at all), and Seven Sunflower Seeds (conceivable).
Ruby Ferguson, Jill Has Two Ponies; Jill Enjoys Her Ponies (many other titles), mid 50s / early 60s.  This sounds like the "Jill" series, details as above.  They all featured the same lot of horsey characters (including the splendidly-named Captain Cholly-Sawcutt!).  Narrated by Jill herself, with tremendous gusto and humour.
EDWARDS Monica, The Midnight Horse.  Tamzin makes several horses from plasticine. As well as Cornish
Cream, she makes Honey Bee (brown), Spanish Gold and a white one,  Silver Circus. Silver Circus is the name of the Midnight Horse, a stolen racehorse which she and friends Rissa, Lesley,Meryon and Roger rescue . This is the 3rd of her Romney Marsh series, of which ther are about a dozen. (She also wrote the Punchbowl Farm series)
Monica Edwards, Spirit of Punchbowl Farm, 1950s? Gob stopper cadies don't ring any bells, but Lyndsey Thornton, main character in the Punchbowl Farm series, made horses and ponies out of plasticine. the name Cornish cream sounds familiar. May not be the title given, but could be one of the others in that series.
Monica Edwards, The Midnight Horse,1949. One of the Romney Marsh adventures about Tamzin and Rissa.  My copy is in an anthology called 3 Great Pony Stories published by Collins in 1971.
Monica Edwards, The Midnight Horse, 1949.  Sorry - got wrong series in previous message. NOT Lyndsey Thornton from Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm series, but Tamsin Grey and Rissa in The Midnight Horse, one of her Romney Marsh series. Tamsin made horses from plasticine, including Cornish cream, when, I think, they were camping at the Merrow's farm on the marsh.
M136 mad about horses: well, February Callendar is pretty horse mad (though her sisters aren't), but I don't recall plasticene or Cornish Cream in Friday's Tunnel (and the gobstoppers are silver and special). The problem is that there were SO MANY 'pony books' published in England during the 60s that this one will take real luck to pin down. (One English reviewer expressed surprise about an American kid's book being about a BOY's love of a horse).

Berta & Elmer Hader, The Mighty Hunter.  Solved my own mystery.  The book name is the Mighty Hunter.  Its about a little boy named Little Brave heart.  He decides he wants to go hunting instead of going to school.  So one day he sneaks off into the woods and goes hunting.  Every animal he enounters leads him to a bigger animal until he finds a grizzly bear.  After a brief conversation with the bear, the bear chases him out of the woods and he runs back to school.

Flora Gill Jacobs, The Dollhouse Mystery. Was the cover predominantly red with a picture of a black cat?  If so, this is "The Dollhouse Mystery"---Jacobs owns the Washington (DC) Dollhouse and Toy Museum and this was her first children's book.  The museum still sells the book though I don't know if it's available anywhere else.
Possibly - Fun With Mrs. Thumb by Jan Mark and Nicola Bayley, Candlewich Press, 1993.  "A cat taunts the inhabitant of a dollhouse until a human comes to offer him his dinner."
Mary Emett, Anthony and Antimacassar.Not sure if it's the one (haven't read it in many years) but it's probably the only book for young children with 'antimacassar' in the title!
D97 It's possible that it AMONG THE DOLLS by William Sleator. Definitely creepy! Can't remember the cat, but I'll check. ~from a librarian
D97 Doublechecked AMONG THE DOLLS. There wasn't a cat in any of the illustrations. Sorry about the false lead. ~from a librarian
D97 I think you can  eliminate Sleator. None of the b & w sketches inside.
I contributed the first clue, although I went back and re-read it and I don't see "antimacassar" in there.  The cat definitely fits.  Definitely not Among the Dolls.  There are so many doll books out there!!
Unfortunately, I don't know the answer, but I got here through a search engine when I was looking for the exact same book! The only extra thing that I can remember is that the girl thought that the antimacassar was a scary "Antie Macassar." I remember the black and white pictures, and it always reminded me of the Madeline books. I recall the book from about 30-35 years ago.
Joan M. Lexau, Millicent's Cat, 1962. This is definitely Millicent's Cat by Joan M. Lexau. "A little girl goes to visit her great-aunt who lives in a haunted house, full of ghosts and goblins and witches."

Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature.  This is also published under the title "The Mysterious Shrinking House."
Curry, Jane Louise, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)  This is definitely the book.   "Mindy found the miniature house hidden in the attic of the old barn. It was so perfect it looked like a real house--that had somehow shrunk. But she never guessed its terrible secret or that she herself would be trapped inside."
Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)  This book was also published under the title "The Mysterious Shrinking House."  I am sure you will get lots of answers to your question as this seems to be a favorite book of many people.  "Mindy found the miniature house hidden in the attic of the old barn.  It was so perfect it looked like a real house-that had somehow shrunk.  But she never guessed its terrible secret-or that she herself would be trapped inside!"
Jane Louise Curry, Mindy's Mysterious Miniature. (1970)
This might be Mindy's Mysterious Miniature, also published under the title The Mysterious Shrinking House, by Jane Louise Curry.
The Mysterious Shrinking House, aka Mindy's Mysterious Miniature, by Jane Louise Curry. Not as scary as the back cover implies - especially if you're old enough to read it alone.
ohmy. you all ROCK!!! that definitly is the book. i've looked for years, put in all the different combinations of words in searches, and in a few days, you all got it! i've already called the library and had her put the book on hold. Thank you all so much!
There's a sequel to "Mindy's Mysterious Miniature" called "The Lost Farm".  In that one, a boy and his grandmother are shrunk on the family farm, and they have to keep things running. Eventually, Mindy shows up and figures out the problem and unshrinks them.  Just if the person asking wanted more...  :)

Brandel, Marc, The Mine of Lost Days, 1974.
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in about 1972, i read a story, hard cover, thick volume (for a kid) about a child/some children in england who come across an old tin? mine (you know, the stacks you see in the english country side?) and while walking around it they kick it or kick a stone at it and a door opens to world below...i would love to find out the name of this book.

David Wiseman, Jeremy Visick
hi- i don't think that jeremy v is the book - but thank you!!
Brandel Marc, The mine of lost days, 1974.  Philadelphia, Lippincott [1974] On a visit to Ireland, Henry falls into a "haunted" copper mine, and discovers that he and his new friends can travel into the past.  Could this possibly be it - time frame is fairly close and it appears to feature a group of people as the requester remembers
brandel, mine of lost days.  I just posted a solution and then noticed that this also appears on your solved pages - with much more detail - the chimney stacks match so I'm sure this is the right book.

The mystery has been solved through about half a dozen cat forums looking for me.  The book's title is Minette.  The author is Janice.  I do not know if that is sirname or firstname.  She/he may have another name but I was not able to find it.  Glad to have the mystery solved.  You can file it as done. 

Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1982. A wise man tells Ming Lo how to move the mountain away from his house.
Lobel, Arnold, Ming Lo Moves the Mounain, 1982. Ming Lo's wife is angry. The couple live beside a big mountain which causes them no end of trouble. Shadows fall over their garden. Rocks fall through their roof. And it is always raining. "Husband," says Ming Lo's wife, "you must move the mountain so that we may enjoy our house in peace." But how can a man as small as Ming Lo move something as large as a mountain? Maybe the village wise man can help. This whimsical literary folktale is set in China.
Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1993. This is definitely the book, a classic.
Lobel, Arnold, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1972. Ming Lo and his wife lived in a house at the bottom of a large mountain.  They loved their house, but they did not love the mountain.  So Ming Lo's wife decided that Ming Lo should move it.  Ming Lo had no idea how a man as small as he could move something as large as a mountain.  And indeed, it was not easy.
Arnold Lobel, Ming Lo moves the Mountain. This is exactly the book you are looking for - by the wonderful author and illustrator of the Frog and Toad books and many others.

#T116--Three mice that live in a tree with their mother:  It couldn't have been a church?  During my long search for my "church mouse" book (solved only by your site!) I found one book where the sister mouse, named Muffy, went to be a missionary.  Another series, published in Australia, was about "Pip and Pippa" or something like that.  Similar names, anyhow.
Fairweather, Jessie Home, illustrated by I.E. Robinson, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary.  Racine, Whitman Tell-a-Tale 1950.  "Mrs. Mouse has three children, Matilda, MacElroy and Mary. This book describes the day they live told in rhyme." The story may begin "This is the house of Mrs. Mouse and these are her children three." The mice are white, MacElroy wears a red jacket with white collar, and the others wear aprons. However, the cover is blue, with pink and white lettering, showing the 3 little mice in front of some white flowers. Otherwise it sounds like a good possible.
Tarrant, Audrey, Pip Squeak....,  mid-late 1970s. There were a number of books about Pip Squeak, a woodmouse, but I didn't see anything about 3 mice.  However, there were two squirrels named Hoppy & Skippy that joined in the adventures (kind of like Flopsy & Mopsy?).  Titles include Pip Squeak Sets Sail, Pip Squeak Saves the Day, Pip Squeak Joins The Band, Pip Squeak's Trouble, Pip Squeak And The Thieves, Pip Squeak's Spring Holiday. There may be even more but these are all I found.  Sorry that I can't add more about whether the mother wore an apron, or what the cover looked like, etc.  There is also a book called Pip Squeak, Mouse in Shining Armor by Robert Kraus, but I can't find a summary.  Knowing Kraus, though, the illustrations were probably cartoonish and colored with bright primary colors.
I did ask about Matilda, MacElroy and Mary, and this was not the book. It would have been late 60's or early 70's that this book came out. The author, it turns out is a British woman, and we're still pretty sure that she illustrated the book as well. The book could have been in rhyme, but maybe it wasn't. The Pipsqueak name is probably a false clue, but the name of the book was definitely the three names of the mice. Thanks again!
How about this?  The midnight flight of Moose, Mops, and Marvin by Suzanne Wilson Bladow illus by Joseph Mathieu, pub 1975  Three little mice begin an unusual adventure when they are accidentally caught in one of Santa's sacks and are left under a Christmas tree.
I checked my 98 mouse titles and found 1 with 3 names, but couldn't work my way to its box to check whether they lived in a tree. Here is what Lib of Congress says about it: *   Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet : a mouse story / by Adelaide Holl ; pictures by Priscilla Hillman. New York : Golden Press, c1977.   Three mice leave their mother and comfortable home in the meadow to find good food and adventure.
Adelaide Holl, Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet: A Mouse Story. (1977) Thank you so much for this solution. It is definitely Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet. Using this title, I found it on the internet, bought it, and showed my fiancee and grandmother, and they we sooo happy for having this book again, which they value so highly! Thanks for making me a hero!

Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  I'm pretty confident about this.  I expect a dozen other people will be too...
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say/The Minnow Leads to Treasure.  I just read it.  The second title was the U.S. version from the 1960's Scott Foresman book used in schools.  It's been reprinted recently under the original British title.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  A Google search for "Squeak Wilson" pulled up Philippa Pearce's "Minnow on the Say." A 'net description synopsizes the book thusly:  "David can't believe his luck when a worn wooden canoe mysteriously appears on the banks of the River Say behind his house. With summer stretching endlessly before him, it seems too good to be true.  "Soon there is another boy -- Adam, the Minnow's rightful owner. Adam wants his boat back...but something else, too: a trustworthy friend to help him find the long lost ancestral jewels that could save his family from financial disaster!  "Can two boys find what history has kept an untouchable secret for hundreds of years? Or will they lose the race against time and against another treasure seeker lurking at the river's edge."
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  "Two English boys, David and Adam, spend the summer canoeing on the River Say and, with just an old riddle for a clue, try to find a treasure hidden along its banks by one of Adam's ancestors."
A. Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1955.  Definitely the book you are seeking.  An English boy named David is delighted to find a canoe at the bottom of the garden and tracks down the owner, another boy whose name is Adam.  Together, they spend the summer canoeing on the River Say and, with just an old riddle for a clue, try to find a treasure hidden along its banks.  One of the characters is indeed named Squeak Wilson.  This has been reprinted several times over the years, most recently in 2000.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say.  I'm pretty sure this is the book you're looking for.  They search for treasure in their canoe called the Minnow.
Philippa Pearce, Minnow on the Say, 1954.  Thanks to everyone who helped identify this book!!! I have just ordered a copy from [blip] so should be reading it again before xmas!

"Minnow" Vail

I have it here in my hand:  Wise, Winifred E.  "Minnow" Vail.  Illustrated by Mimi Korach.  Whitman, 1962.
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A typically grumpy pre-teen is forced to spend the summer somewhere other than home.  The family comes to California and visits with someone who is a marine biologist.  As part of the plot, they go grunion hunting and find or look for phosphorescent algae.  Read this in the early 1970's, but it was a library book so could have been published earlier.

Have you tried checking L'Engle's Arm of the Starfish?  I'm fairly certain that Zachary (a grumpy character in some of her other books) runs into Adam Eddington, who's a marine biologist.  You might want to check some of her other books, since I'm not 100% certain that it's this particular title.
L'Engle, Madeleine, Meet The Austins, The Moon By Night, A Ring Of Endless Light, Troubling A Star.  I think the poster is looking for L'Engle's "Austin Family" series. All four stories in the series are written in the first person, from the perspective of Vicky Austin (the eldest daughter.) The Austins travel to California in Book #2, The Moon By Night. Vicky meets Adam Eddington, a marine biology student (whom you correctly recall as a main character in The Arm of The  Starfish) in Book #3 of the "Austin Family" series - A Ring of Endless Light.  The latter book was recently adapted for
television by our friends at The Disney Channel. :-)
I can't tell you what this is, but it's not anything of Madeleine L'Engle's. None of her books take place in California except the very end of The Moon by Night, but no one goes hunting grunion. The Arm of the Starfish does have a marine biologist in it, but it takes place on the island of Gaea, off the coast of Portugal, not California.
Winifred E. Wise, Minnow Vail, 1962.  Minna "Minnow" Vail is  a teen living in CA who watches the grunion run each year and pretends to be one during the annual carnival.  One summer, her snooty cousin comes to stay and tries to steal her sort-of boyfriend.  There are some more subplots, but Minnow is crowned Queen of the local carnival.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Wise, Winifred E.  "Minnow" Vail.  Illustrated by Mimi Korach.  Whitman, 1962.  VG-.  $15

This could be Ride a Wild Horse by Ruth Carlsen, published in 1970.  It's been a long time since I read it, but it's about a girl who's traveling from the future.  She's somehow gets lost, and ends up with no memory.  While staying with a foster family, she starts to remember stuff, and her foster brother helps her find or fix a carousel horse which is her means to get her back to her own time.  I do remember something about a whipping mane as they travel, because she has to get goggles to keep the mane out of her eyes.
Lindgren, Astrid, Mio My Son, 1960s.Could this be Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren? Young boy travels to Farawayland where he learns he is really Prince Mio.  He has a horse with a golden mane named Miramis.  Don't remember if it can fly or not.
Lindgren, Astrid, Mio My Son, That's the one! Thank you so much! I'm going to look for it right now!!

Betty Martin, No One Must Ever Know,1959.  This is the one I remember, about a young woman sent to the leper hospital in Carville, LA.
L58 I bet it is one of Betty Martin's 2 books.  No one must ever know or Miracle at Carville.
No One Must Ever Know is the sequel, but Miracle at Carville is the one that is actually about the girl's life inside the leper
colony.

U26 is NOT Maple tree by Selsam. That has photos of a girl playing with maple seeds, but is nonfiction about maples.
Sorenson, Virginia, Miracles on Maple Hill, 1957.  Could it be this one, even though the author's name begins with S?  Her''s a brief synopsis from the Web: "A heartwarming Newbery Medal winner. Dad has returned from World War II a changed man: withdrawn, touchy, unable to work. The family moves back to the family farm where dad gets the healing he needs. Includes a great description of maple sugaring."
Sorenson, Virginia, Miracles on Maple Hill, 1956.  Newberry Medal winner 1957. Marly and her family share many adventures when they move from the city to a farmhouse on Maple Hill. After her father returns from the war moody and tired, Marly's family decides to move from the city to Maple Hill Farm in the Pennsylvania countryside where they share many adventures which help restore their spirits and their bond with each other.
Virginia Sorenson, Miracles on Maple Hill, Yeah,  this is the book.  Thanks so much.  I am very excited to add this to my collection.

sounds like jane-emily, again (whick i was glad to see in your answers from a previous question: i had "jane-Somebody" only) -- led here by a pointer from rec.arts.books.childrens (we love figuring out books for people!)
Pamela Sykes, Come Back Lucy. Again not 100% sure as I don't have a copy to check, but the details
sound right from memory.  It was published in the UK in the 1960s (I think). There's also a sequel called Lucy Beware which is much harder to find.
#T88--Time Travel, Young Adult:  Mirror of Danger, by Pamela Sykes.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger, 1976, reprint.  I love this book!  I still have my copy, even though it's pretty
weather-beaten by now.  A little blurb on the inside says it was originally published in England as Come Back, Lucy.  My copy was published by Archway Paperback/Pocket Books.  I hope this helps!
Sounds like - Come Back, Lucy, by Pamela Sykes, illustrated by Tessa Jordan, published Hamish Hamilton 1973, 183 pages. "When Lucy suddenly lost the only relation she had ever known, there was no choice for her but to learn to live with her riotous cousins. This was difficult enough for Lucy, who had led a sheltered life with her gentle but old-fashioned Aunt Olive, and there seemed to be no peace for her in this noisy house. Or was there? Shocked by unhappiness and unwilling to accept her new-found family Lucy was only too glad to turn to her mysterious friend Alice, whose life was so akin to that which she had enjoyed with Aunt Olive. But was Alice a true friend - or someone to be feared?" (from the dust-jacket) When Lucy explores the attic room "The third frame, a heavy gold one, held not a picture but a mirror. Lucy crouched to peer into its mottled surface. Her own pale face peered back at her. And then, suddenly, there was another face beside it, a round laughing one. 'I'm Alice,' said the girl 'and I live here.'" At Christmas "And the tree! Instead of the lovely dark fragrant thing Lucy had expected there stood an imitation one. Blue of course. Only witch balls were hung on it, blue and silver. No colour anywhere, no warmth."
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All I really remember is that a girl finds a mirror (maybe in her new home ?) and when she looks in it, she notices the room in the reflection is different.  Somehow, she steps into the reflection, and is transported to the very same home only now from a Victorian time in the past.  She meets another girl and they befriend each other.  She  goes back and forth in this mirror (from her current time to the Victorian time) to play with the Victorian girl.  She attends a lovely party with the Victorian girl in the mirror, but when the first girl wants to go home (back to her real time) the Victorian girl gets angry and tries to hold her back from going thru the mirror -- maybe breaks it so she can't go back.  PLEASE help me remember this book.  I am very interested in purchasing it to read again.  It was one of my favourites.  THANK YOU !

I was too quick to jump the gun since I am so tired... I got all excited about your site, and didn't take the time to read first about the solved books...  The book I was seeking is called:  Come Back Lucy  by: Pamela Sykes
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I don't remember the title or author.  I read this book in the early eighties.  The character, I think her name was Lucy, lived with her great aunt.  They were very old-fashioned.  Her great aunt dies, so she has to move in with her aunt, uncle, and cousins, whom she has never met.  They are very modern, with a pink Christmas tree.  She is very unhappy, and every time she looks into a reflecting surface, she gets sucked back into Victorian times and befriends another girl.  The Vic. girl gets jealous of her modern life, especially as Lucy begins to adjust, and becomes very possessive.  At the end, Lucy is looking into some water.  The Vic. girl is moving away, and she wants Lucy to stay with her permanently.  She pulls her into the water and Lucy almost drowns.  She tells her aunt and uncle all about it, and they find a diary that shows the Vic. girl used to live in their house back at the turn-of-the-century.

Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger. Also called Come Back, Lucy. I loved this one too. My edition was called Mirror of Danger, but apparently it was also released as Come back Lucy.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger. This is on the Solved pages under MIRROR OF DANGER (also published under the title COME BACK LUCY) by Pamela Sykes.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger / Come Back, Lucy, 1973. Definitely it.
Sykes, Pamela, Come back Lucy.Surely this is Come back Lucy by Pamela Sykes. It was made into a tv series in Britain quite a while ago. The plot seems to match it.
Pamela Sykes, Come Back Lucy, 1973. This is Come Back Lucy, by Pamela Sykes. The US title was Mirror of Danger, which was published in 1974 (year after the UK release).
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy). I haven't read this one, but the description sounds like Mirror of Danger (British title: Come Back, Lucy) on the "M" Solved Mysteries page.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (aka Come Back, Lucy). I'd give a synopsis, but the stumpee seems to have it down pretty accurately! :)
The stumper can be filed as Solved.  It had already been solved on the "Solved Mysteries" page.

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A girl goes to stay with another family (cousins?) in possibly England (I seem to remember them eating fish and chips at one point).  She feels alone, and makes friends with a girl ghost from another time.  She might even go back in time with the girl ghost, not sure.  In a climactic scene, the girl is standing by an icy fountain/pond/pool where the girl ghost appears to her (from within) and pulls her down.  The other children/relatives (a boy and a girl or two?) see this, but they see the girl jump/fall in and drag her out to rescue her.  The girl then begins to appreciate her cousins/relatives and ignores the lure of the ghost girl (who could be petulant and mean) in favor of finding a place for herself in the modern world.  No idea of author or title.  It was read by me in the late 70's or early 80's and I am pretty sure it is post WW2.

This is definitely Mirror of Danger (also titled Come Back Lucy).  Lucy is an orphan raised by an elderly aunt and used to quiet and ladylike ways.  When the aunt dies she goes to live with distant cousins who are friendly but loud and boisterous.  She becomes "friends" with a ghost in the house who wants her to stay and tries to drown her at the end of the book.
Mary Downing Hahn, Wait Till Helen Comes, 1986.  It doesn't have anything to do with England, but it might fit. Molly's new stepsister, Heather, is just plain nasty. Heather becomes friends with Helen, a ghost who eventually tries to drown her in an icy pond. Molly pulls her out, and she and Heather start getting along better. The ghost can be nasty (she destroys Molly's room and all her things). No time travel, but there is some detail about Helen's life in the mid-to-late-1800s, and she tries to drown Heather because she wants a friend to stay with her forever.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger (also published as Come Back. Lucy.)  Lucy is an orphan who is sent to stay with cousins when her elderly aunt dies. Unhappy with their boisterous ways she keeps to herself and discovers that she can go back in time through a mirror/reflection. The little girl she meets in her visits back in time tries to get Lucy to stay in her time forever.
Plot sounds similar to MIRROR OF DANGER (also published as COME BACK, LUCY) by Pamela Sykes, but I can't verify the part about the hand reaching out of the fountain~from a librarian
The person who wrote in Mirror of Danger was absolutley correct, that was the book I meant. Thank you so much for this service.
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I’m looking for the name of a book I had when I was a child in the early 80s (although I got it secondhand and I’m pretty sure the kids in it wore flares). It was an early teen novel about a girl (maybe called Lucy?) who had no siblings and had been raised by her grandmother. The book is about her going to live with a new family of “hipsters” who seemed brash to her. The book contrasts the old-fashioned kind of life she had had with her grandmother, with the modern life of the new family.     The key scenes I remember are:  *  The girl going shopping for a Christmas tree with the new family, and crying when they bought a tinsel “themed” tree rather than an old fashioned one;  * Her playing with her grandmother’s collection of mother of pearl combs which were kept in mini chest; and  * The girl going out for fish and chips with the hipster children and eating them out of newspaper.  Does that ring any bells? I’d really appreciate any assistance you can offer!

Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger, 1974, reprint.  The American edition was first published in 1974 by Thomas Nelson.  The British also made a TV show out of it, called Come Back Lucy, so I assume that at one point the book was also released under that title.  Lucy is the girl who goes to stay with her cousins; she travels into a past via a mirror.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy), early 1970s, approximate.  It's definitely this book. Lucy was raised by her grandmother in an old-fashioned way and after she dies goes to live with cousins who are very contemporary.  She also meets a ghost named Alice.
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger (Come Back, Lucy)
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger.  11-year-old Lucy was brought up by her eccentric aunt to love all things Victorian. When her aunt dies and she has to move in with modern and loud (though very friendly) relatives, she can’t handle both her grief and the stress of change, and pulls away from her new would-be family. A little girl who lived in the same house in the 1870s, Alice, can peer into/haunt the future house and has become determined to make Lucy her playmate... forever.
Sykes, Pamela, Mirror of Danger (aka Come Back, Lucy), 1974, copyright.  Oh this is a popular one!  Poor little Lucy felt so out of place with her 'modern' relatives and their 'modern ways' after having been raised by an elderly aunt (The blurb says "aunt" but I want to say it was her great-aunt.) The scenes you described are in the story. "11-year-old Lucy was brought up by her eccentric aunt to love all things Victorian. When her aunt dies and she has to move in with modern and loud (though very friendly) relatives, she can’t handle both her grief and the stress of change, and pulls away from her new would-be family. A little girl who lived in the same house in the 1870s, Alice, can peer into/haunt the future house and has become determined to make Lucy her playmate... forever."
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I read this book in the 1970's. It was about a young girl who lived with her elderly Aunt. They lived as if it were in the 19th century (old fashioned life).  The Aunt dies and the girl is sent to live with her cousins. They live a modern life.  The girl is homesick and she begins to see a ghost named Alice. Alice takes her back in time to the 19th century. The relationship continues until Alice tries to harm the girl. I remember a broken window and a cut arm. I think the girl only sees Alice in a reflection when she is in the current time. Alice may not really exist, I can't remember. She may only be a figment of the girl's imagination but to the girl she is real.  I can remember one other seen about the girl eating fish and chips out of newspapers with her cousins so it must take place in England. I also remember Christmas - the girl hates the modern fake tree and goes with Alice to see her real tree.  Like so many others I loaned this book to friend 25 years ago and no longer remember the title.

This sounds exactly the same as stumper G459, which has been solved as Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes.
Sykes, Mirror of Danger.  Thank you everyone! The book was definitely Mirror of Danger. It seems a lot of people have been looking for it and remember it fondly.
Pamela Sykes, Come back Lucy.  This has been correctly solved as Mirror of danger, but you might want to add that this is the US title. The original UK title is Come back Lucy. There is also a sequel, Lucy beware.

Marjory Hall, Mirror, Mirror, 1956. It sounds as if this could be Mirror, Mirror by Marjory Hall, one of her "career girl" series. Kim, after graduating from high school, gets a job in the personnel office of a china company. She makes friends with the daughter of the owner, Lisa, and Lisa and her friend Christine give Kim a makeover. Naturally Kim grows up to her new image, gets the right guy, and goes on to college at the end.
Yes, this is the book I remember.  Thanks so much!

Doesn't sound like William Sleator, either.
#P74--Parallel Universe:  Harlan Ellison wrote a similar story, which appears in his collection Shatterday, with a much grimmer ending.
HE rarely sets anything outside of the U.S.
I think this is MISPLACED PERSONS (1979) by Australian writer Lee Harding--that's the US title original Australian title was DISPLACED PERSON.  Harding originally published this as a short story in the early 1960s, then expanded it to short novel length for teen-age market under titles noted above.
Lee Harding, Misplaced Persons, 1979. Misplaced Persons is indeed the book referenced. The premise sounded so intriguing I found myself a copy and read it in one night! The plot is exactly as the "stumpee" described (though it's set in Australia, as the person who provided the solution pointed out). Here's the blurb from the book jacket:  "The change began gradually. At first, Graeme barely sensed it. But people were ignoring him. Not only the waitress at McDonald'\''s, but his girlfriend and even his parents were looking right through him, as if they could hardly see or hear him. And as it became harder for him to make contact with people, Graeme noticed another change. Everything and everyone was becoming grey in his world -- everything and everyone except him. Was he going crazy or was the world? Did anyone else feel as trapped and misplaced as he?"  As the "stumpee" mentioned, the protagonist does meet an older man, Jamie Burns, and a young woman, Marion, in the "greyworld" limbo, with whom he teams up to survive and strive to master the mercurial rules of the mysterious dimension.

M183 A shot in the dark - could this be THE WITCH NEXT DOOR or one of the other witch books by Norman Bridwell? They did come out in the 60s. However, I don't know if she had a name. ~from a librarian
M183 Can poster think harder about the witch's naem? I put Grimsby and witch into search engine  Google and got more than 400 matches. I quit after 400. The British  town of Grimsby is associated with wiches, but I found no ref to a book.
Weales, Gerald, Miss Grimsbee Is a Witch, 1957.
Gerald Weales, Miss Grimsbee Takes A Vacation, Atlantic-Little Brown, 1965.  Miss Grimsbee Is A Witch,  Atlantic-Little Brown, 1957. Sponge rubber streets in town?

Rumer Godden?
Rumer godden, miss happiness & miss flower

Sounds like Carolyn Bailey's Miss Hickory.  "Miss Hickory is a country doll, made of a hickory nut head with an apple twig body. Unexpectedly, she finds that her mistress and family have left for the winter, leaving her to fend for herself during the cold dark months in New Hampshire."
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twig body, nut (pecan?) head. Miss ____? 1940s  This was a story about a "lady" whose body was a twig (with two arms, two legs) and she found a nut to serve as her head.  At the end of the book, she grafted herself back onto a tree, and blossomed.

Miss Jaster's Garden

Bodecker, N. M., Miss Jaster's Garden, Golden Press, 1972.  A garden romance featuring Miss Jaster and a dear little hedgehog named Hedgie.
Miss Jaster's Garden, written and illustrated by N.M. Bodecker. "Myopia is an endearing weakness, but in Miss Jaster it is nothing less than enchanting. She scatters seeds on a hedgehog in her garden one spring, then thinks someone is stealing her flowers when the hedgehog wakes up in the summer and goes for a walk." (Children's Books of the Year 1978 p.115) Bodecker was the illustrator for several of the Edward Eager fantasy books.
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I'm looking for a picture book for a friend.  She remembers the title as 'Mrs. Jasper's Garden' but I can't find that title listed anywhere. The story is about a shy hedgehog in a large (possibly English) garden. The woman who tends the garden accidentally sprinkles some seeds on the hiding hedgehog, who then sprouts flowers from it's back. My friend remembers a picture of the woman watering her flowers when one clump begins moving through the garden. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

N.M. Bodecker, Miss Jaster's Garden, 2002, reprint.  Yaay!  Solved my own stumper!  The book was out of print for a number of years (can find 1st editions going for over $200!) and just came back into print! Author/illustrator N.M. Bodecker also did the great illustrations for the Half Magic series.
Bodecker, N. M. author & illustrator, Miss Jaster's Garden, Collins 1973.  Sounds like this title, which is on the solved list. Short-sighted Miss Jaster accidentally seeds and waters her little hedgehog friend.
I believe that's Hogglespike, which is British and written before 1980. I can't find any mention of it, though - I'll have to check my copy again. He actually rolls around in a garden and then curls up to sleep in a flowerpot, so people at the flower show end up thinking he's a "multifloripricklium."
Miss Jaster's Garden.  It's "Miss", not "Mrs.", I believe. The book is at my mother's house and I'll check for the publication info this weekend.  Follow-up message: Remembered the correct spelling of the name and did a quick search. The book was apparently reprinted last year, since the original publication date was at least 10 years back. The hedgehog is sleeping in the flowerbed when Miss Jaster scatters and waters her flower seeds. The seeds "sowed" on him develop into his own crop of flowers.
Bodecker,  N. M., Miss Jaster's garden, 1971.  This was a Golden Book about a hedgehog who became a walking garden.  It was reprinted in 2001, also as a Golden Book.
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THIS WAS A BOOK FROM THE 70'S, AN OLDER WOMAN FINDS A HEDGEHOG IN HER GARDEN AND I THINK IT WAS CALLED MS JENKIN'S GARDEN BUT NO SEARCHES TURN IT UP.  I REMEMBER IT BEING A BIG BOOK AND LOVED THE ILLUSTRATIONS. THANK YOU!

You're close.  Try N.M. Bodecker,  Miss Jaster's Garden, Golden Press, 1972.  A garden romance featuring Miss Jaster and a dear little hedgehog named Hedgie.
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This is a children's story about a hedgehog who fell asleep in a new tilled flower garden and the lady of the house sprinkled seeds on him while seeding the garden. Beautiful flowers grew on him and I remember that at first he was very upset and confused but at the end saw his reflection and saw how wonderful it was. I remember loving the color illustrations. I've loved hedgehogs ever since!

N.M. Bodecker, Miss Jaster's Garden, 1972, copyright.  Charming story about what happens after Miss Jaster mistakenly sows marigold, Sweet William and Baby's Breath seeds on a hedgehog as he napped in her flower bed. Published by Golden Press and illustrated by the author.
Hogglespike by Patricia Drew, 1971? (The details don't quite match.) There were two sequels.
Miss Jaster's Garden.  Yes, this is it! I remember the Sweet William very well! Thank you so very much-this has been bugging me for so many years!

Calhoun, Mary, The House of Thirty Cats, 1965. This might be the one... In search of a kitten for her own, Sarah befriends eccentric Miss Tabitha Henshaw, who lives with (yes) thirty some-odd cats in a tumbledown house - which looks a bit like a cat. At first, Sarah is somewhat ashamed of her friendship with Miss Tabitha, especially after she sees Miss T raiding restaurant garbage pails for food for her cats (Sarah starts to bring table scraps to prevent Miss T scrounging in town). The atmosphere is wonderful, with detailed and funny cat antics, Miss T is wise and understanding, and Sarah learns to value Miss T's and her own individuality. This is reinforced when Miss T is ordered to drastically reduce the number of her cats by the town council after the "evil" cat Tarnish wreaks havoc in town with his "gang". Sarah helps to find new homes for the cats, making new friends in the process with many people she'd never have approached before. Contains one of the most touching cat-death scenes (Aramantha's) I've ever read. Originally published by Harper & Row in 1965, I have a paperback published in 1970 as an Archway Paperback by Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-42064-X. Could well still be in print.
Gag, Wanda, Millions of Cats, 1928. This is the first thing that occurs to me for someone who keeps getting
more and more cats!  It's still in print, so the questioner can check it out and see if it's the right one fairly easily.
Sounds like Millions of Cats!
Millions of Cats?
Yes, but in Millions of Cats, the old man goes out to find a cat, comes home with a million and his wife immediately says no, choose the prettiest (thereby starting the famous cat fight).  However, the cats eat and drink plenty on their journey with the old man to his home in the first place....
This is a complete guess, but possibly Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag.  It's the story of an elderly man whose wife wants a cat.  He has so many to choose from that he can't decide. He asks the cats to decide for him.
Chaos ensues.  Published in 1928.  Black and white illustrations.  A picture book classic.
Judy Varga, Miss Lollipop's Lion, 1963. This is a great book! She didn't just get lots of cats--she got lot of
animals!
I don't suppose M118 refers to Miss (or Mrs.) Lollipop and Her Lions? (The reader would probably remembered lions instead of just cats.)  If I recall, Miss Lillipop felt sorry for the lions in the zoo and brought them all home to live with her in her big Victorian house.  It was a lot of trouble at first and the lions had terrible manners.  Miss Lollipop, through her firmness and love, tames the lions and the all live happily ever after.  I think I read this book in the late 60's
Just possibly - Mr. Petersand's Cats (and Kittens), written and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, published Macmillan 1954, 64 pages. "Mr. Petersand lived on Firefly Island and loved cats. Every summer when the summer people came to the island they would borrow one of his cats to make their summer home complete. Mr. Petersand knew that all the cats would return to him when the summer people went back home and he would take care of them during the winter as usual - until one summer Mr. Petersand broke his toe and had to go the hospital on the mainland. What happened to the cats when the summer people went back home? and Mr. Petersand wasn't on the island to take care of the cats? This is a wonderful story."
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The Scraggly Lion gets a home?, 1950-1960.  An older poor woman has severly pets living at her house that she takes in when they don't have a home. One day a lion appears on her front porch and she thinks it's a cat. She takes it in feeds it, gives it a bath and loves it. The circus people are looking for the lion and finaly knock on her door and tells her it's an escape lion. The lady ends up getting a job as the lion tamer and all the animals are taken care of and she isn't poor anymore. The pictures look a lot like the ones in the "Happy Lion" and I think it might be one in that serise but I can't remeber the name and looking under that author hasn't helped.

Miss Lollipop's Lion.  It's an older book.  I found one on e-bay.
Varga, Judy, Miss Lollipop's Lion.  Morrow 1963.  I'll agree with this suggestion. Heres more plot "Miss Lola Lollipop takes in stray animals and eventually takes in a lion, but when he tries to eat all the other strays, she tells him he should be ashamed! She even makes him take a bath. In the end she becomes a famous lion tamer."

E21 is a line from a hand-clapping game we played when I was a kid called "Miss Mary Mack".  It goes like this:
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack / All dressed in black, black, black / With silver buttons, buttons, buttons / All down her back, back, back // She asked her mother,  mother, mother / For fifteen (fifty) cents, cents, cents / To see the elephant, elephant, elephant / Jump the fence, fence, fence / He jumped so high, high, high / He touched the sky, sky, sky / And didn't come back, back, back / Til the Fourth of July, ly, ly.   I typed Miss Mary Mack into the bookfinder.com site as a title and came back with several children's books, so that sounds like the best route to pursue.....
This sounds like: MISS MARY MACK AND OTHER CHILDREN'S STREET RHYMES (1990) by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson. One reviewer of the book said that street rhymes are one of the few ways kids can lash back at commercialism - as in this line from a rhyme about McDonald's: "...but don't forget those frosted shakes/They come from polluted lakes!" Another rhyme is a take-off on "I'm a little Dutch girl" - "I'm a little hippie all dressed in blue/Here are the things I like to do./Spit at the captain/Kick the queen/Burn my draft card for the U.S. Marines."  Very colorful.

The Miss Minerva books are a series, begun by Frances Boyd Calhoun and continued by Emma Speed Sampson.  They were written in the thirties and published by Reilly & Lee in Red hardcovers with black illustrations and matching DJs.  They take place in the rural south of the late 19th century and featury blacks and whites, children and adults.  Much of the stories are written in black dialect.  Scallywaggs has a picture of three children on the cover, two white and one black.  The books are about 300 pages long.

Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop.  This is almost certainly the book!
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne The Mop, 1962, approximately.  Very definitely Miss Osborne The Mop.  The girl who brought the mop to life thought it resembled her teacher, thus the name.
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop, 1963.  "Two children are faced with the problem of how to keep a mop busy, happy, and out of sight of adults."
That was amazing!  I am so surprised that anyone remembered this book!  I was afraid it was some obscure, rarely read volume that I had a quirky affinity for....go figure!  Thanks so much to the 3 rapid responders!  I can't wait to see if I can find it in our library system. This was well worth the $2!!!!
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a children's book (4th grade level) written in late 50s or early 60s about 2 children who have a cantankerous broom for a nanny, she ends up in a tree with a broken back (broom handle).

Actually, I figured it out.  What I remembered as a broom was a mop and the answer is Miss Osbourne the Mop.  Great book when I was in the 4th grade.  Thanks!
Wilson Gage, Miss Osborne-the-Mop.  Sounds like Miss Osborne-the-Mop,  who is c