Mid-1960’s chapter book for 3rd to 7th grade. Characters are twins Gregory (called Gory) and Marcus. Their sister is the main character and I believe her name was Chaneth (called Chan), whom I think was a blonde. The book may be a mystery and may be British. There were some illustrations featuring the girl and at least one of the boys. One twin was more gregarious than the other.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
I feel like this is the same book I’m looking for. It’s a book told in first person in a journal format, and the illustrations are the girl’s. I remember she has twin brothers, and her drawing shows one or both of them with a large mole on their cheek. I think she feels frustrated with her parents because they pay more attention to the twins than to her.
She becomes friends with a girl (Asian, possibly?) whose family is a bit eccentric. When she goes over this girl’s house to help “put the bed to sleep” or “put the bed to bed,” she wonders what that means and peeks in each bedroom to figure out which bed they’re talking about. (I think one of the bedrooms has a bed that’s suspended from the ceiling?) It turns out the “bed” the family is referring to is their flower bed, which they proceed to cover for the winter. I think her friend’s family includes a mom, older sister, and grandmother.
I think the bed incident, “putting the bed to sleep,” might be from Veronica the Show-Off by Nancy K. Robinson. In that book, Veronica has to start over at new school with no friends, and she feels self-conscious talking about her real life because her parents are divorced. She keeps trying to show off in order to make herself look better and get attention, but people get disgusted with her bragging and hurt when she tries to make herself seem better than they are. The first friend she makes is with an eccentric girl who likes the same sort of books she does. As I recall, the other girl’s older sister has a bed hanging from the ceiling, which Veronica thinks is weird yet cool. So, when the older sister asks the other girls to help her “put the bed to sleep”, Veronica thinks at first that this is some strange ritual with her odd bed, but then she finds out that the sister is talking about the family garden. When the sister finds out what Veronica was thinking, she thinks it’s funny, but she still thinks Veronica is nice. It later helps Veronica to realize that she doesn’t have to make herself seem great or perfect for people to like her. Her showing off is cured the rest of the way when she gets to know another girl, who she didn’t like before, and finds out that not only do they like the same things, but that her parents are also divorced. Veronica feels less alone, and they unite to support a cause that they both believe in, getting Veronica to speak up about her real feelings for the first time with simple sincerity.
Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the story with the twins.
You’re right, Tracy! I was confusing parts of it with Veronica the Show-Off. Thank you for clarifying that.
Although my memories are a little muddled, I still think I may have read the book that the original post was about. No luck tracking it down so far, but I’ll keep searching.
I found the book!!! It was The Whistling Boy by Ruth M. Arthur. I am delighted.