This is an old (perhaps 1950’s?) children’s chapter book about a young girl living in a small Maine coastal lobster town, where her father is a lobsterman. I don’t specifically remember her mother being in the story… The main story line is that someone is stealing lobsters from traps in the town and somehow her father becomes a suspect – I think related in some way to a red sash from one of her dresses that he has in his pocket, that people think is the mask that the thieves were using. Somehow, his innocence is confirmed and I think she has something to do with it….
There are other pieces to the story as well, about her daily life, and I remember a part where she talks about listening to the rain pattering on the tin roof of their house.
Unfortunately, I do not remember any other specifics. Any help would be sincerely appreciated!
Are you sure it was her father? Could it have been a big brother?
There is a series set in Maine with a girl named Meg who is orphaned, and lives with her older half-brother Alan, who has a lobster boat. In the first book, she’s seven or eight, and he’s 20. He’s accused of stealing (which I think he might have done to help keep her, but regrets and tries to fix) and in the end, Meg goes to live with an uncle and aunt, who keep Alan out of jail. Other books in the series happen when Meg goes to stay with Alan for vacations or visits. The books are by Elizabeth Ladd, and some of the titles I remember are Meg of Heron’s Neck, A Mystery for Meg, and Meg and Melissa. I think there may be one or two others.
Could this be one of Dorothy Simpson’s books about Janie Marshall?
Thank you both very much for your comments – the book series that you mentioned certainly sounds interesting, but that is not the book I was remembering. I had actually posted to another forum as well, and found the answer!
The book I was recalling is “Here’s Juggins” by Sally Smith Bryant. I was mistaken about the time-frame. The book was published in the 1990s, not earlier as I had thought.
Thank you again for the thoughts and input!