It was a story that reminded me of “The Boy Who Lost His Face” and other books by Louis Sachar and/or Andrew Clements, but I can’t find it by either of those authors. I think it’s about a group of students who get sent to detention or some kind of remedial class and they form their own community and refer to themselves as “the Dregs.”
I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years to no avail.
In 1991 or 1992, my sixth grade reading teacher recommended this book in an attempt to get me to not read Stephen King books. Sadly, I don’t remember a lot of the plot, and I’m reluctant to mention details that could have been in other books.
I remember a few things for sure (hopefully). It was a story involving two boys, and one had or saw a painting called “Nausea,” which we later discovered meant “Gold in the North Sea” (N Au Sea). I thiiiiiink there was a treasure map in the painting. And right around now my memory is very inadequate….. I think the map may have led to Wood Islands in Canada, but I may have looked that up in The World Book at the time, and it may be unrelated to the book…
Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.
I read this book in approx 1974 (latest cut off date), it was more probably between 1968 and 1973.
The book is about a kid about age 10 who loved baseball, as I did, and he liked to play catch. And meanwhile he meets a new kid about his same age and they become friends, build a bond, which eventually leads to the two playing catch. The baseball becomes a symbol of their friendship. The plot twist is that this friend is actually an alien, whose parents are aliens. I don’t recall much more of the plot. I think the alien kid is waiting until his parents repair their spaceship so they can continue their galactic journey. So when that is accomplished, the alien dad, mom, and son (the alien kid who had befriended the earthling kid) are in their spaceship ready to continue their journey, and they reach a point when they cross it the alien boy will forget everything about his time on Earth. When they do this, one of the alien parents asks the kid, what is that? And they are referring to a baseball which the earth kid had gifted him as a memory/souvenir of their friendship. Only, being past the “point of no return,” the alien boy doesn’t recognize or know what it is, and, being rather meaningless, he or the family eject it from the spaceship (I think throw it through the window, but I could be wrong). Their journey continues. That is the basic plot. I was not happy with the ending!
This is a middle-grade book that I read over and over in the early 70s. Here’s what I remember about it: –It was about a group of 4 boys who had adventures in their small town. –One of the boys had a wealthy grandmother and they used to go to her house for cucumber sandwiches (which one boy didn’t like because they gave him gas) –They heard the phrase “paint the town red” and went out one night, broke into the hardware store, stole paint, and literally painted the town red –One of the boys’ moms wanted to visit Schenectady because she liked the way it sounded. This makes me think that it was set in NY.
I read a book in elementary school (1978? 1979?) that has stuck with me. Can’t remember the storyline or any characters except for, after a battle, a dying dwarf saying something like, “Be thankful for pain. It’s how you know you are still alive”. Bleak, but comforting. Any ideas at all what fantasy book this was? TIA!
I am looking for a children’s storybook read in 1965 and published 1965 or before. It was not a picture book per se. The only thing i remembered was that a character was named Cory. I believe the spelling is correct. It may have been slated for 12 year olds to read. I think but i am not sure it was related to a setting in northern Europe. I took it out of the library back in 1965 and my mom named my sister after the character. I don’t know whether or not ice skating was a part of it.
Probably published in the 1950s or even the late ’40s. Maybe in Britain or Canada.
Children’s fantasy/detective story
Plot: A single (gasp!) mother (probably a war widow) with 2 kids, a boy and a girl. She is being courted by the neighbourhood beat cop. The kids want to buy her something special for her birthday and they have saved their allowance so they have enough to buy her a small second-hand radio. The kids know she loves music and dancing. Kids find out later that radio is magic and broadcasts crimes in progress, which they , of course, try to stop/solve, and get their bacon saved by the cop character. I know this is a faint, faint hope. But it was such a change from Dick and Jane, which I refused to read aloud, thus grade one ended with me being labelled as mentally deficient. It was astoundingly different from anything else I ever saw until I was in my teens.Best of Luck to you – and for me!
Have little to go on. Believe purchased via Scholastic Book Club or at Scholastic Book Fair between 1977 and 1981; a short-read, 1–2” children’s novel; think it’s published by Scholastic; it might be a supernatural or science fiction thriller; white paperback with cover art, possibly with kids and a Ferris wheel; main characters are kids, with the climactic event at a carnival with a Ferris wheel with swinging lights?
Seeking a 1960s children’s book (possibly Scholastic Book Services) about a girl (an orphan?) who goes to live with relatives whose house is a station on the Underground Railroad. One of the former slaves they help is named Phoebe. The Emancipation Proclamation is signed at the end of the story, and Phoebe and her mother are able to appear in public with the girl.
Am trying to find a book or play, I think it was a children’s play from the 1960’s and in one scene, one of the cast characters uses the words
‘oh mighty king with rusty tin, come down to the water so i can throw you in’
Can you help me find the book or the play please?