Category Archives: Solved

300X: The fertile farm bought with three moths (Solved)

Posted on by
5

This is for my husband. He said he had a reader he loved as a kid. It was published by Scholastic. He said it is about a family who loses everything. The father, mother and at least two kids get in their car and head out. They end up buying a farm which is not fertile because they were taken advantage off. However, the farm is kind of magical and becomes fertile. The farmer who sold it to them comes back at toward the end of the book and wants it back. He says that the father of the family had said he would buy the farm with everything in his wallet and that he did not hold his end of the bargain because there were three moths in his wallet he did not give away. The farmer proceeds to plant trees which grow immediately and turn the day to night because of the shade of their canopies. The family goes hunting for moths with a flashlight and find three moths to pay the bad man with.

 

300Q: Nutcracker in the summer (Solved)

Posted on by
3

The book is juvenile fiction about a young girl, age 9, who dances ballet. She wants to start using toe shoes but everyone tells her she is too young. She goes on a summer vacation to the beach and meets a famous ballerina and her choreographer husband who decide to stage a shortened version of The Nutcracker at the grand hotel where they are staying. The girl is invited to participate even though she is not staying there. The owner’s spoiled daughter makes a fuss and is cast as Clara. She had started dancing with toe shoes but it is causing to much stress on her developing feet and she can’t dance very well. I think her name is April.

300D: Slow mouse is left behind by family and builds house by lake (Solved)

Posted on by
6

I read this book with my dad 15 or so years ago, when I was quite young, and I haven’t been able to track it down since. It is about a young mouse who is extremely slow at everything, and one day his parents and many siblings go out on rollerskates (not 100% sure about the rollerskating part) and because he is so laggy, he is left behind. He ventures into the wilderness and settles by what I remember to be a lake, where he begins building a house out of sticks and leaves and eventually makes friends. I think he is reunited with his family at the end. If it helps, the fabric book cover was a dark reddish color with a small, realistic drawing of a mouse standing on its hind legs in the center. It was very weathered over a decade ago, so it may be a much older book. Thank you!!

299X: Boy eats brownie, turns into a cat (Solved)

Posted on by
3

I read this book probably in the early 1970s.  This is what I remember: a boy lives in an apartment building, something’s weird with one of the neighbors, there’s a brownie that he eats, just a few bites at a time, I think, he notices strange things happening to him, and ultimately, he eats enough brownie and turns into a cat and sneaks into the neighbor’s apartment through an open window ledge.

299R: Witches and a Glass Mountain (Solved)

Posted on by
4

I remember almost nothing about this book except the cover and the fact that I loved it. The cover was blue, with a picture of a glass mountain on it, and a couple of little witches on broomsticks flying around it. I read it in the early 1970’s when I took it out of the library and it was probably aimed at 10 – 12 year olds. I realize this is not a lot to go on! But thank you for any help anyone can offer.

299B: Abandoned Gothic Mansion Mystery (Solved)

Posted on by
3

I read this book late 90’s / early 2000’s (1998-2002), but the book could have been written any time in the 90’s.  I know it was a mystery book aimed at 10-15 year olds, the main character was a boy who was about 13.  (there may have been a female character too)  The boy explores / investigates this abandoned gothic mansion, coming across clues as he does so.  One of the clues is the word “Boss Stone” which eventually he realizes is the architecture term (“knob or protrusion of stone or wood”).  He realizes that there is a “boss stone” located on the ceiling in the main room of the mansion, and once he gets access to it there is something hidden behind it.  The only other part i remember is that the building is haunted / guarded by this cloaked figure that has a tentacle.

299A: Medina Textbook (Solved)

Posted on by
2

A reading textbook used in Medina City Schools around 52-54 or so. (I already checked with them, they have no record) This described pioneer life-how soap was made, how wool was carded into yarn, how cloth was dyed. The book followed a little boy around in pioneer times and daily life for him.

298G: The Perfect Dress (Solved)

Posted on by
2

I am searching for a book I read as a young elementary school student in the late 60s but the target audience was a little older, perhaps middle school girls.  I think the book would have been published somewhere between the mid 50s and early 60s. Even in 1969/1970 it felt slightly dated.

Here are some facts I remember:

1) The protagonist was a young (13-15) teen girl and the book may have been part of a series (of either books or movies-not Giget.) Or maybe not.

2) The setting was very much all-American, white picket fences.

3) Our heroine was very excited to be invited to the out of town wedding of her older male cousin.

4) Although I can’t remember the name of the protagonist or her family, the bride’s name was Joan. At one point she shows her mother a picture of a bride in a magazine and asks “Do you think Joan will wear a dress like that?” To which Mom replies non-committally “Perhaps.”

5) Much of the book is about the struggle to find an appropriate dress for our heroine to wear to the wedding.

6) The perfect dress is actually found at a thrift store or among clothes that the mother is collecting for a charity drive, a seamstress makes some adjustments, and she loves it.

7) At the pre-wedding festivities the protagonist becomes friends with a similarly aged girl who I think is the bride’s sister/cousin and who is a junior bridesmaid in the wedding.

8) Unfortunately, they forget to pack the perfect dress. Much sadness ensues.

9) The junior bridesmaid becomes sick and our heroine is called upon to fill in.

10) The bridesmaid’s dress is green velvet with a little velvet toque.

And that’s it, that’s all I’ve got.  I borrowed the book over and over from the library, but the dust cover was missing so I don’t even know what it looked like.  Even though it doesn’t sound like much, I loved it and would like to read it again.  Thanks for any help you can provide!