Welcome to Stump the Bookseller by Loganberry Books!

Welcome to Stump the Bookseller blog!

Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember.

In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.

Thanks to everyone involved to keep this forum going: our blogging team, the well-read Stumper Magicians, the many referrals, and of course to everyone who fondly remembers the wonder of books from their childhood and wants to share or revisit that wonder. Isn’t it amazing, the magic of a book?

G Mail Concerns

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Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well as we approach the holiday season. It has come to my attention that G Mail often does not let our e-mails through. For those using G Mail accounts, if you have submitted a Stumper and have not received an e-mail from us after a few days, please check your spam folder prior to contacting us.

Thanks and take care,

Julie

377J: Looking for a teen funny book from 70’s (Solved!)

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I read a book in the early 70’s. It was about a teen boy and his misadventures in a small town. It had a cover with a kids driving and old blue jalopy In the book. In One of the stories he gets a commercial propeller and puts it on a car to make a go faster. It flies loose and goes flying through the town, destroying things. I think the book had a white hardback cover, and the picture of the boy in the car was like light blue drawing I think it may have been a Scholastic book. But it was about this young early teen boys misadventures. And I recall the propeller wrecking havoc story. The book may have been from the 60s. But I read it in the early 70s. It may have been one of my older siblings book. And it probably was from the Scholastic catalog.

377I: A Book From the 90’s

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I am looking for a book that I read in the 90’s.. with or 11th grade English. It’s about an adolescent male who looses the friend. The friend may have died as a result of falling out of a tree OR…. The main character goes to the tree while processing his grief. OR. There is a picture of a boy on the cover… sitting at the base of the tree. There is also a sort of soliloquy… where he talk about the death.
I’ve been wondering about this book for years and the name isn’t even remotely close to the tip of my tongue.

377H: Eating Human Flesh

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I am trying to track down a story I read years ago. It might be by Ralph Ellison but I am not sure. The narrator works at a hush-hush government facility where Black people are being rounded up and detained. He reads one of their letters home. Eventually he learns that they are being used for food a la “Soylent Green.” One character accuses him of being a “n—-r eating SOB.” The story ends with the narrator repeating “My wife is having a baby. I have eaten human flesh….” Thank you.

377G: Young boy makes maps

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This fiction book set in Butte Montana. A young boy makes amazing maps and illustrations and a teacher, I think, submits them to a national magazine and for years he makes these amazing illustrations and they don’t know it’s a kid. Eventually they give him an award and he doesn’t know how to get there (I think the teacher doesn’t want the secret revealed) so he hides on a train (this turns into kind of a magical time warp train ride) and goes to Washington DC.
I think it must have been published prior to 2010? Around there or before.

377F: Missing woman in the South

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Southern setting

Child narrator

Missing local young woman

Small town

Gritty

Published in last 25 years

Beautiful missing girl

377E: Main character Terrie

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I don’t have a lot to work with but it is a unique story so fingers crossed. I recall it was an English author – the main character was a brave, strong and resourceful young girl called Terrie. She so impressed me I decided at 13 years old I wanted to be a person like her, I knew would even change my name legally one day (and I did). I read it in 1967 from a country Australian library so it would unlikely be a new book so am guessing it was written in the fifties or very early sixties. It’s not much to go on, but there are very few books with a main character called Terrie. So I am just hoping someone may have also read it and knows the title or author. I don’t think it was a biography I recall it was fiction. As I am now 70 the chance to re read this book would be truly wonderful, and yes I did mould my character on her and had a very adventurous life- so am eternally grateful to the author.

377D: Older Children’s Book Set in Charleston, SC

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I know this is a long shot- but i don’t know where else to turn. There was a children’s book written about a brother and sister who found arrowheads on either the wappoo bridge or the bridge going to folly. As you can tell it was written in the Charleston area. I had checked the book out from the old Charleston Library when visiting with my grandmother one summer- it had to have been in the early 80’s, but I feel like the story took place in the 50’s (not sure), but I loved the book. I just wish i could remember its name. If anyone can help i would be extremely thankful.

377C: Extra Tall Child

377B: Cory in Northern Europe

377A: Stephanie and Stephen

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Seeking a book with Twins Stephanie and Stephen. Book was likely published before 1960. The main characters were twins by the names Stephanie and Stephen.