Author Archives: admin

338M: YA fiction Ruby Cross of Acapulco (Solved!)

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I’ve been searching for this book for years. I read it in the 6th grade, twenty-one years ago. My old teacher didn’t remember it, and I don’t recall the title or author. It seems that it was an older book, possibly from the 50s or 60s. There were a couple black and white sketches in it.
I remember most of the plot. A girl named Samantha lived in Boston with her mother (father deceased), who then died, leaving her an orphan. Her mother’s dying words were something to the effect of keeping the family heirloom safe. A ruby cross stolen from Acapulco.
Samantha is sent to live with her relatives in Hawaii (during the life of Princess Liliuokalani – I think she even had tea with her, or met her in the story). She has a cousin her own age and she experiences lots of new things there, but trouble turns up as men seeking the ruby cross, which she hid in a cave. She ends up kidnapped and having to show them where it is, but is rescued my a family friend, Andrew. All ends well. She ends up marrying Andrew, and they return the cross to Acapulco at the end of the book.

 

338L: Boy in India Who Gathers Orchids to Buy Books

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Please help me find a book I read 30+ years ago. The plot is about a young, very poor boy in India (I believe) who gathers rare Orchids to sell to a rich white (I believe) woman. With the money he earns, he is able to buy books. The books are rare and precious treasures to him. Every time he finds a rare orchid she buys it and he hides his money under his sleeping mat until he has enough to buy a book. I will try to remember more if possible. Thank you, this is a book that has stayed in my memory and I wish to find and read it again.

337V: Society that enjoys watercress sandwiches (Solved!)

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I read this book in six grade in the mid-80s.  I think it was a fantasy type story.  This society had once been in contact with humans (or maybe just one human).  He may have come over the mountains on a hot air balloon.


They got a few things confused about humans.  For example, they had a painting of a tree and a diagram of a family tree (genealogy chart).  They called the genealogy chart a picture and the painting of the tree a family tree.  So everyone in this society had a very carefully tended “family tree” in their yard.  Unfortunately, I remember nothing about the actual plot.

337H: Murder mystery where a fake town in Europe is created to prevent solving

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Think I read this in the 90s. May have been translated from French (or another language?) I think the book starts in America in modern times - late 20th century. A person's friend/partner/significant other(?) dies or is killed. The person, who I think is male, goes to a city in Europe, possibly Paris, to find out more. During his investigating, he talks to various people, goes into buildings, etc. One of these people is a nurse who eventually gets her throat slit, and he either sees it happen or finds the body. ***spoilers coming*** Some time after this, he sees the nurse, alive, on the street, and no longer a nurse. He goes back to some of the buildings where he had talked to people, only to discover that they are completely empty abandoned buildings. . . an entire scenario had been set up that didn't actually exist. He realizes that everyone he has talked to and all the places he has been were in fact people playing characters and places that were only set up to trick him into not solving this murder. I really thought this book was called either Facade or Charade, but the books I've found online with those titles are not this book. . . so maybe it's a one word title.

337G: Fear of Being Crushed in the Crowd was Unfounded

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Please help me.  This is driving me crazy.  I believe this book was written in the 60’s, possibly.

Around 1980 I read a book in middle school English class about a boy who lived in a large city but no one was allowed to go outside for fear of being crushed.  Everyone had a tv/internet-like machine in their home where they ordered things and they were sent into the home via a chute.

There were warnings from the “government” via tv to stay inside or they would be crushed by the mass of people on the streets outside.

The boy decided to go outside and found there was actually no one on the streets at all.

337F: Search and Find Book with Modern Items in Ancient Times

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I am looking for a Search and Find book that my daughter-in-law had when she was little (she is now 23).  The book had pictures of ancient Egypt, possibly Rome etc. and you had to search and find the items that didn’t belong.  For example – someone wearing a wrist watch or carrying a modern ladder in ancient times.
There may have been a time travel mistake or something like that.