The book was found on the shelf of my grade school library near the Boxcar Children and my best guess of pub date is 1960s to 1990s-early reader chapter book/ middle school reading level. In the first book of the series a young boy jumps from the roof of the family barn with homemade (airplane?) wings and breaks both legs; I think the boy’s name is Junior- the story follows a sibling set who i remember being cared for by an older (non parent) male relative – there is a pet companion involved, a dog? At one point, Junior knocks on the front door to the home from the inside to ask permission to come sit outside with the older male relative in one of the series’ culminating scenes
This book has haunted my dreams for almost fifteen years and I badly want to find an old copy to read. please let me know if it sounds familiar and thank you for providing this essential service to society- that sounds facetious, but I promise I am serious as a heart attack, thank you.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
“The not-just-anybody family” by Byars, Betsy Cromer? Publication date 1986
Try “The Not-Just-Anybody Family” by Betsy Byars.
“The first in a series of books about the Blossom family, beset by goodwill and bizarre mishaps. Mother is away on the rodeo circuit, Pap managed to get arrested for dumping 2,147 soda cans, and Junior tried to fly and broke two legs.”
The Not-Just-Anybody Family, by Betsy Byars.
The Not-Just-Anybody Family, by Betsy Byars.
“When Junior Blossom wakes up in the hospital, his last memory is of crouching on the barn roof with cloth wings tied to his arms, and of Maggie and Vern in the yard below, urging him to fly. That had been just before Junior spotted a police car approaching the farm in a cloud of dust.”
Is it The Not-Just-Anybody Family by Betsy Byars? See https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/982156.The_Not_Just_Anybody_Family
I’m not sure why that would have been by the Boxcar Children series by Warner, though. Maybe a display. 🙂
Thank you, I am thrilled!!