All I can remember is a young girl enters a curiosity/antique shop with a disturbing old man as proprietor. She purchases a toad figurine that appears attractive in the store but when she gets home appears less so. As days go by the toad appears uglier and uglier, even evil. Bad things begin happening and people in the house become ill. Somehow the girl knows the toad is responsible. She tries to return it to the shop but the shop is closed and when she looks through the dirty windows it appears to have been closed for years. I don’t think she lived with her parents, may have been an orphan living with an aunt or grandmother. Remember something about the evil curiosity shop. Would LOVE to find it again.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Jennifer Murdley’s Toad, by Bruce Coville.
Many of your details match with Jennifer Murdley’s Toad, by Bruce Coville… except that the toad is not evil and ends up being a positive influence in Jennifer’s life. You can find a description of the Magic Shop series and this individual book here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Shop_%28series%29
Hmm. If it’s not Jennifer Murdley’s Toad, maybe something by Carol Beach York? I know she had at least one book with an evil curiosity shop.
Beware of This Shop by Carol Beach York? It was one of my favorites in the mid-80’s.
This is Beware of this Shop! Some of the details are a little off. The girl doesn’t purchase a toad. She buys a bowl that is pretty in the shop but ugly when she gets it home. She also buys perfume that smells bad at home and spills everywhere. She does live with her aunt. The toad is a brass statue in the shop. The girl figures out it is evil. I think she runs out of the shop with it and throws it in the lake. Then the shop is empty the next day. I’ve been trying to remember the name of this book too! Yay, mystery solved! Thank you!