Author Archives: admin

295Y: Young Reader Adventure with Plane Crashes, Loch Ness, and Balloon Races (Solved)

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This book was read in middle school. It featured four stories with the same gang of young boys. One story was of them faking a Loch Ness Monster using radio-controlled boat in their lake. Another was their search for a crashed airplane using radio direction finding. A third was their competing in a hot-air balloon race. The fourth I do not remember. This was probably published in the 80’s or late 70’s.

295X: ‘Through the chamber door’ or something about a conch (Solved)

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I am looking for a children’s chapter book that I read in the mid to late 80s about a brother and sister who become trapped in the center of a conch shell and have to solve riddles in order to open up each chamber of the conch to work their way back out to freedom. I can’t remember the author or title. The title might have included words like ‘through the chamber door’ or something about a conch, not sure.

295W: Good Morning Mr. Sun

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Here is a direct passage from the book that I cannot find: “Good morning Mr. Sun. Time to rise and shine. I must get dressed. The day looks fine. Muffins for breakfast with strawberries and cream. I eat it all up and brush my teeth clean. Some of my friends come over to play. We run and climb and tumble all day. Off to the garden to rake and plant seeds. Water the ground and pull out the weeds. Time to eat dinner then off to my room. All tucked into bed. Goodnight Mr. Moon. ” The book is yellow/orange in color with a bear on the front.

295V: Trapped in a snow globe as pets (Solved!)

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It was a paperback about two girls on a trip with their family and they stop at some mine or cave. The younger sister runs off into the gift shop and the older follows. The evil gift shop owner ends up trapping both in a giant snow globe as pets for a giant family in the cave system. They really just wanted the little sister so the elder is a freebie. They end up escaping when the older girl melts the snow globe on the fireplace or something and they run out through the tunnels.  Might have been apple paperbacks or similar.

295U: Ring-Around-A-Rosie (Solved)

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I am looking for a book I read in the mid-1960’s, probably young adult.  Tells the story of a girl who moves to Cape Cod? (some seashore region) to train with a famous tole (painting on tin ware, etc.) painter.  At first she just copies his designs, but he insists she should find her own muse.  One day she sees a group of kids playing ring-around-a-rosie and does a design based on that.

295T: Too Awake-Too Asleep Picture Book

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I’m trying to find a children’s book, likely from the 1950s, about the size of and with illustrations similar to a Little Golden Book. It includes two complementary stories, each beginning at one of the covers. The first reads toward the middle of the book. Turned over, the book includes a second story that reads to the middle of the book. The stories are small morality tale, one of a boy or girl (I can’t remember which) who refuses to go to sleep and is allowed to discover how boring the house is when its quiet at night. The other story is of a girl (or boy?) who doesn’t want to get up in the morning and is allowed to sleep and find out what goes on while he/she sleeps through the day. In both cases, these tales are part of a strategy to get each child to wake up or to go to sleep. The illustrations are similar in style to those of Little Golden Books.

295S: The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

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I’m looking for a children’s or YA novel about St. Cuthbert, the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, some children, and possibly a selkie (mythological creature). The story, as I remember, was somewhat mystical and had to do with St. Cuthbert. I would have read it in the late1960s— it’s not The Wind Eye by Robert Westell (1977), which was published too late to have been the book I read. I remember the cover being illustrated in shades of gray and white. It may have shown some birds flying around the island, which has a distinctively shaped profile.

295R: Sandy

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This book is titled “Sandy” or “Sandie” I believe.   It’s a story (real-life) written by a doctor about the death from his wife, Sandy (born as Alexandra) from cancer.  I think she must have died in about 1967 or 1968.  She had a 3 year old son called Alexander.     I read the book sometime between 1978-1982 when I was younger.   I’ve always wondered if I could find a copy of it and all my research has come up with nothing.   It’s possible I have some of the details wrong.  I got the book out of the Rochester, NY Public Library at the time.  It was in hard-cover.  I am sure that it was published by a “reputable” publisher.   I have searched for “cancer narratives” to no avail.

295P: Castaway Kid

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I read this children’s book as a boy in 5th grade (1953-54), age 9 or 10. It was dreamy & (to me) “romantic,” an adventure, I think, and involved being marooned on an island or shore. Submarine may have been involved. Cover picture showed view toward the sea through a break in the tropical vegetation, from what seemed like a hiding place.