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214E: Guy falls for a girl with a dog (Solved)

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Guy falls for a girl with a dog, eventually they breakup. I read the book in around 2002 and believe it was a new release at the time. It’s told from the perspective of a guy and think the author was male. He meets a girl who has a dog (I’m pretty sure it was a dachshund) and they start a relationship. She was quirky and did things like carry a pocket vocabulary book with her on the bus (maybe subway or train). Eventually they break up and he is devastated but realizes that he put her on pedestal. Alas, I can’t remember anything else. Any help would be appreciated, it’s been driving me crazy trying to figure this out.

The cover of the book has a picture of the dog, which is probably a dachshund.

It would be so amazing if you can find this book!!!

214D: amusement park or maze on cover

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Children’s/pre-teen book, under 200 pages. The cover was white and I’m imagining either an amusement park or maze on it. I’m picturing red (lettering, maybe), too? I keep thinking the title has “joker” or “game” in it. I read it in the 1980s, so published then or earlier. I don’t remember much of what it was about, but it was probably a fantasy-type book kind of like “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Neverending Story”, Labyrinth (the movie w/David Bowie)….
I wish I could provide more details If you figure this out, I will love you forever. I LOVED this book!

214B: Collection of Life’s Lessons For Children (Solved)

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This book is probably from the 40s or 50s. It was a series of stories that taught children how to make good choices. One story featured a greedy little boy who always grabbed the biggest cookie or cupcake for himself. To teach him lesson someone makes a nice spread of food featuring one very large muffin or potato etc. but something is always wrong with the biggest piece. For example a large pie has almost no filling inside! When he grabs the biggest one he always gets disappointed.

214A: Story read on NPR

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I was listening to a book with my niece on NPR in 1980, it was about a kid staying with his/her grandparents or aunt/uncle. Upon exploring the house he/she finds a painting. To look at it closer a candle is lit and he/she is transported to an island. I have looked everywhere for this book please help!

213E: Performing family in a covered wagon (Solved)

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I am trying to remember the name and author of a children’s novel I received as a present when I was in third grade, in 1976 or 1977.
I believe it was a Yearling book. I received it at the same time I received a Yearling book about Sitting Bull, and I remember the two books had similar insignia on them that must have represented the publisher.
I think the title may have had the word “Day” in it, as in “XXXXX Day,” but I could be wrong about this. I will explain more about this below.
The book was about a family that traveled around the Old West in a covered wagon with a cow tied to the back. They were a performing family, and in each town they reached, they made money by putting on a show that included different acts typical of entertainment at that time. The main performer was the father, a grandiose, kind, eccentric and wise man. I remember little about the mother other than that she was the more sensible parent. I think there were two children, an older daughter who was probably a teenager and a son who may have been a preteen or a bit younger. If there was a third sibling, I don’t remember her or him. The cow was somewhat considered an important part of the family as well.
The father and mother were somewhat strict, but being a funloving family they had a family tradition called something “… Day.” This is a key part of what I don’t remember. Each child could declare it was “XXXX Day,” and on this day they could get away with anything.
Early in the book, the family is traveling across the prairie from one town to another, when suddenly they realize the cow is missing. It turned out the boy had untied the cow, so they had to retrace their path for miles to find the missing cow. But the boy declared that it was “XXXXX Day,” so they couldn’t punish him.
One of the family’s acts in their show featured the son as a disembodied head looking through a box and giving oracular advice to the crowd. One of the main plots featured a mystery of some kind in the town where much of the action takes place, possibly solving a crime. The daughter and son figure out the answer, or believe they have figured it out, but they’d get in trouble if they told anyone. So the boy essentially tells townspeople the solution to the mystery when he is the disembodied head looking at the crowd through the box.
This is all I can remember. I would love to get this book for my children, or at least those still young enough to enjoy it.

Can you find this book?

213C: Young woman accused of witchcraft in colonial New England, loved by two brothers

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My mother remembers with love a book she read in her youth. She describes it as follows:

“Book was available in the late 50s or maybe very early 60s – I don’t think it was published too long before then but I don’t know . I remember its style being like the Elizabeth Speare books as opposed to say the earlier Girl of the Limberlost.

Brackets are specifics I don’t remember clearly.

Young woman (YW) comes over from [England?] to stay with [distant relatives] in colonial New England. YW’s secret plan is to go back to a [cottage] in the wilds where [her family] used to live and where she believes she will be able to find [money? really don’t remember]. The family she is staying with includes a boy who is in terrible health and is very devout as he doesn’t expect to survive long. There is also an older girl.

There are also two rich brothers, the younger considered the most eligible bachelor in [Boston]; the older considered hopeless as a marriage prospect who accepts fines for not marrying rather than look for a spouse. One and I think both are sea captains.

YW does indeed run off to look for the cabin. Boy, who is convinced she is a witch and has written “witch, witch, witch,” sees her and follows her to bring her back or maybe just report on her. She is exasperated but by the time she discovers him it’s too late to send him back so she takes him with her. On the rugged trip he regains his health and comes to appreciate her.

She doesn’t find what she’s looking for and returns to [Boston] where she is arrested. The boy tries to testify for her but everyone thinks he’s bewitched. The younger brother comes to visit her in jail and promises to wait for her and marry her. The older brother comes in and says if the younger really loved her he’d help her sneak out of jail and would then run away with her – which he then does.”

213B: Brother Freezes to Death

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My book is literary fiction published (probably) since 2000, by (I think) a man, but I cannot be certain.

The plot concerns a man (possibly a writer?) who returns to his hometown because his brother has been found frozen to death at the family’s vacation cottage and the man needs to figure out how the brother died and to clean out and sell the cottage on behalf of his parents.

While back in his hometown, the man has a romantic relationship with a woman (possibly someone he knew when he used to live there, but not certain). At the end of the book, the man successfully defends himself against an attempt on his life, possibly by an ex-lover of the woman he has taken up with. It’s possible that the man interrupted what would have been an attempt on the life of the woman, thereby saving her before turning to the task of saving his own life. The assault takes place on the property where the cottage is situated, with the would-be killer emerging from a garage, shed or barn, armed (possibly with an ax or some other tool).

Thank you in advance for your efforts to identify this book.

213A: Generous Queen Marries Curmudgeon

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I am Looking for a children’s book, about the size of a Little Golden Book, although I am not sure that this was a Little Golden Book. I think it was called either The Magic Garden or The Secret Garden (not Frances Hodgen Burnett’s book). It was the story of a beautiful, generous queen married to a curmudgeon husband. She had access to a garden full of flowers, elves and fairies, beautifully illustrated. Of course, the husband is ultimately converted by her compassion and dealings with the poor. I recall it from the ’30’s and ’40’s so it was probably published about then.