Author Archives: admin

303T: The kidnappers find out that he’s a great dancer

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Here’s the book I’m trying to find, and all I know about it.

It a boy who either gets lost or kidnapped, but the kidnappers find out that he’s a great dancer and start to make him perform dances in front of people and on stages. That’s really all I got – that’s not much, I know. Oh, and for some reason it stands out in my mind as a book that was very similar to “In A Dark Room and Other Scary Stories” by Alvin Schwartz — this was an illustrated kids book that was dark and strange.

That’s all I got.

Thank you! And good luck solving this mystery! I really really appreciate it.

 

303S: A 90s or earlier young adult book about a teen girl in poverty

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A young adult (YA) book I read in the late 90s:

The main character is a teenage girl. She lives with her mother and younger sibling. She lives in poverty/school outcast.

Three events from the book:

Something about the younger sibling having a pee accident and the vivid description from the teen

Something about eating cereal for dinner

At one point, her family gets a bag of free clothes, which she is really excited to wear to school even though it’s stained. Might be leather skirt and white sweater?

303R: WWII evacuated kids hiding in English country house ruins. (Solved!)

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C​hildren’s fiction book set during WWII in England.​ A group of evacuated children, abandoned or lost are hiding from enemy troops in ruined building or cellar in rural England.

​The oldest girl is the “mum” taking care of the little ones.​ They make it homely using stencils of pineapples?  (that may be a different book?)

When they are finally rescued by friendly troops, they are given treats by soldiers: a bar of chocolate and one orange to share between them. The youngest girl slowly unwraps chocolate foil like it is priceless treasure, but ultimately decides the orange is the best thing she has ever eaten.

Thanks!

303P: A Christmas story with a house on stilts

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Looking for a book that my sister remembers, hoping to find it for her and surprise her.

She remembers this:

1) Early in the book is an illustration of houses on stilts

2) There is porridge that has a single almond hidden in it and one lucky person will find it

3) There is a man with a broken tooth

4) I think she said it is a Christmas story

Thank you!!!

303N: Rowing through the air, as spirits, in a “spirit canoe”

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In 1980, I read a book whose story details I recall only dimly. I do not recall the title.

Two children travel far from home to another place. I forget the purpose or motive for their journey. I believe it may have been a brother and a sister.

At one point during their long journey, they sleep in a friend / ally / friendly stranger’s houseboat (or boat or water-home of some kind.) The young girl (I think) listens to the water lapping up under the floor as she is going to sleep.

Near the end of the book, they encounter a civilization which had at some point stopped living in the world and now existed in a spirit form. The memory I recall when reading about this encounter, is that an individual (s) of this culture were rowing by them, or above them, as if rowing through the air, as spirits, in a “spirit canoe.”

The mood of their encounter with this race of spirit people was haunting, nostalgic, and a sense of loss or grief for the children. As a ten year old, I was moved somewhat sorrowfully when the children learned of or interacted with these spirits.

303M: Who Owns the Sun (not by Chbosky; much younger)

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In 1974, aged 4, I repeatedly traced the letters of the book which I recall was entitled Who Owns the Sun?

I have since looked for it and only ever found Chbosky’s Who Owns the Sun online; that is not the book I’m seeking.

In the book I remember, it was thin and paperback with color drawings. The illustrations may have been watercolors but my memory isn’t certain.

The storyline: a chick hatches from its egg on a farm. Once out of the egg, the chick goes from farm animal to farm animal asking “who owns the sun?”

Each farm animal’s response is somewhat unique but amounts to “I don’t know,” or “it isn’t known.” The chick does not learn who owns the sun by the end of the story.

303L: By the Sea, By the Sea (Solved)

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I am looking for a novel which I read in the early 1960s, a gently humorous story of the eccentric inhabitants of a seaside town located along the Atlantic Ocean. The name of the town was “Plankton”. Three of the inhabitants were retired school teachers who shared a house, one of whom spent her days entering and winning contests. There were other residents, but since I was in either the 7th or 8th grade at the time, it was the school teachers who made the biggest impression on me.

A young single woman and a young man who loved insects and the study of bugs came into Plankton, eventually falling in love.

The young man was recruited to appear on a game show on television, where he dazzled the audience with his knowledge of bugs.

Of course, he won large sums of money.

The three school teachers took these two lonely people under their collective wing. Living in Plankton seemed to restore their confidence and their purpose in life.

When the two young people do fall in love and marry, they decide to live in Plankton. Their house was outfitted by the household items won by the content-winning school teachers.

I thought the title of the book was “By the Sea, By the Sea”, and the author’s name was Barkley or Berkely.

I remember that I had a paperback edition; the book may have been published in the mid to late 1950s. While I was a young teenager when I read this book, it was definitely a grown-up’s book.

I hope one of the book researchers will be able to find this charming, memorable book for me.

303K: Johnny Shiloh

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I am looking for children’s book from 1960’s based on Disney Movie Johnny Shiloh with pictures from the Disney movie (shown on Wide World of Disney). This is Not the novel and NOT the gold key comic book. It may be from Scholastic Books but do not know. It would be paperback book.