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327Q: Glass/Crystal Palace

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I read this book in the late 1990s. It’s a picture book, with detailed illustrations. I remember rich colors, and I think they looked like watercolor paintings. What I remember of the plot: there are two princesses (maybe they’re cousins), and one lives in a castle or palace of crystal or glass. The other princess comes to visit her in her glass/crystal palace, and she arrives by boat—I think the illustrations are of a city similar to Venice, where the streets are canals, and I remember fun bridges with lots of stairs. I was intrigued by the details of the buildings in the drawings. Part of the story may have been that the princess who comes to visit lives in a palace made of some other specific material—brick, stone, wood—something like that, but I’m not certain. And she decides that she would rather go back to her palace of glass.

327P: Bear Encounter and Romance in the Sierras

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In the 1980s, I read a book about a teen-ish girl whose best friend convinces her to go on a field trip hiking in what I believe were the Sierras. Her best friend backs out at the last minute, and she has to go alone. She is one of the slowest hikers followed by a set of twins, but one day, she is last and encounters a bear. A boy comes back to rescue her, and they end up lost in the mountains together. A little bit of romance ensues! Can anyone remember the title?

Thanks!

327N: Girl Swims Across Beach Cove At Night

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I am searching for a book that I read in the early to mid-eighties – I believe the book was a 1960’s era book. A young girl moves to a beach house on a cape (maybe for the summer). Possibly the house across the cove was haunted or abandoned/isolated . What I remember most was that she had to climb down some cliffs at night and trek or swim across the cove in the ocean to get to the house. May have also included a brother or a local boy who had become a friend. Was she trying to save someone? Wish I had more memories but the climb down and swim across the cove at night are my most clear memories. Thanks.

327M: Mouse Finds Friend In Hurt Bird

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I am looking for a children’s book that my mom read to me over and over again. It was about a mouse (?) that was trying to find a friend, when he encounters a hurt bird. The line “It was up to him to help the bird, he would have to find a friend another day,” is surely a direct quote from the book. There were strawberries involved and lovely woodland illustrations. Of course, the hurt bird became the friend the mouse was looking for all along.

327L: Sort of like the Boxcar Children but in ancient Rome (or was it Greece?) (Solved!)

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I read it in the 1970s, probably published then or perhaps in the late '60s. A young boy (maybe 10 or 11) and his older sister (young teenager?) from a noble family become embroiled in a mystery and they run around town (possibly Athens, but I think it was ancient Rome) hunting for clues.  They wear togas. 🙂

327J: Late 50’s/Early 60’s Long Island NY Grade School Reader

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I’m looking for a book I remember so I can reconnect with the late sister I never knew.
I was born in 1965. I have one living sister (June, born: 1957) and one who passed away before I was born (Susan: born 1948).
I think the book belonged to my sister Susan, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1963. My parents couldn’t bear the pain so most of her things were not kept–too many memories. A few schoolbooks were left in the basement. I remember one especially…it could have been Susan’s or my other sister, June’s. I hope this information provides you with an idea of the time period/range of dates involved. Fairly positive it was before the mid-1960s.
The last time I saw it was a very long time ago, probably around 1973. I’ve been looking for it ever since. It was a grade school reader, blue boards…would have been used on Long Island, NY, in either Suffolk or Nassau County. I believe the first story was about boys vs. girls building a tree house. I think the girls put curtains, etc. on the windows. There are pictures throughout the book, but I don’t think the reading level was too young (not Dick and Jane, for example). There was also a story about a circus with an illustration I clearly remember of a lady in a tutu standing on the back of a running show pony.
I don’t remember much else. I think it was fairly thick, and the standard size for a hardback book.
Our address in New York was in St. James, NY, but my sister Susan only lived there for about two years. Prior to that I believe my family lived on Duffy Avenue, Hicksville, NY. This might help with the school districts.
If you could find the title for me, it would mean the world, because I could try to track down the book. When I was child I liked reading it, but I think when my mom saw it, it was either given or thrown away because it was too painful for my parents. Today the book would also be a connection to my late sister — even though it wouldn’t be her copy, it would still be something she read.
Many, many thanks. I’m sorry I can’t provide more information.

327I: The Missing Blond Princesses

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I’ve been looking for a book that I started reading sometime during third grade (which would have been around 1998 or 1999), but wasn’t able to finish before my teacher gave away various books to another teacher.
Obviously, I have no idea what it was called, but I remember it was not a picture book. I don’t remember what the cover looked like, but I imagine that the title said something with “Princess” in it, and something that would have sparked the interest of a 3rd grader. I also don’t recall the author or the year the book was published, but it would have been before 1999. I also don’t remember any names of characters or places.
What I remember from the book (if I’m remembering correctly) is that the protagonist is an ordinary blonde girl, who lives in modern times and is somehow whisked away from her life to a fairy-tale-like world and told that she is going to be the next princess of whatever world she is taken to. What she learns is that every princess before her was also blonde, but mysteriously went missing. This world she is taken to has strange birds that fly in the sky (based on what I pictured/remember thinking of when I read the book – again there were no pictures – but I imagined they were vulture-like). People are afraid of these birds, as they also believe these birds have taken the missing princesses. What the protagonist seems to start to uncover, however, is that these birds might actually be the missing princesses – maybe some kind of curse or something.
That’s either how far I got, or all that I remember. I know it’s not much to go on, but it’s been bugging me for years.

327H: Backwoods coming of age?

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I'm looking for a book that I remember from fifth or sixth grade. That means published 1981-83. It was about two kids in the backwoods, maybe the Smokey Mountain area. I think maybe the girl is staying with her grandmother and the boy lives there. He seems to teach her the ways of the back woods. I remember there was skinny-dipping in the book. I think maybe the boy's name was Rusty? And that the author's name was two initials and then a last name.