A girl goes on dangerous magical quest to find missing clock tower automatons. I read this book sometime in the mid-1970s. It may have been published from the 1950s-1970s. Statues or automatons have disappeared from the town cathedral or clock tower (I lean toward the clock) and if they are not restored by midnight (?) on a certain day, chaos will ensue. There is a European city feel to the magical yet current-day setting. Toward the very end, some adults are talking, “I’m letting her sleep. ” There is a sense that she has done things which were not quite lawful but she is excused because of her accomplishment. The adults may be a mother and aunt, or maybe aunts only.

My grandmother used to read us a story about Perry the Squirrel who lived with his siblings in a hole in the tree.Then a forest fire came. Circa 1950+1960

In 1954 I read a book about POWER. The thrust of the book was observed methods or deployments people of power use. I.e., In a meeting the attendees will sit automatically by their importance to the chair. The most important will sit to the right of the chair while the least important will sit left of the chair. The author states, Power is so important in society it should be taught in schools.

I suppose I read book after about 1960 but don’t know if it was new then. It’s about a boy with a toy train set who dreams, in chapters, about being small enough to live in his toy train world and experience the perceptions attending the physics of being so small.

The book was about a group of children staying in an old Abbot’s house or at least close to an old monastery.  Virtually all I can remember of the plot was the finding of an old map in a settle in the house, which led them to find treasure in the monastery garden.I seem to remember the treasure was actually from the church and it was important for some reason that it had been found.