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187H: Boy in plane crashes in Canada lake 1950’s

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I read a small boy’s novel in 1950’s about a boy travelling to see his father on a Cessna? (or other small plane) which crashes in a Canadian lake. He befriends an otter (from memory) which catches fish for him, has some adventures and eventually escapes the situation. I have forgotten most of the details but think that he dove down into plane to recover things and had a run-in with a bear. Best thing I can recall is the front cover drawing of the young boy sitting on the lakeside with the otter beside him.

It is definitely not “Hatchet” by Paulsen which appears to be a very similar plot published much later in 1987. I have not read this book but assume it is not a reprint of the original book I am recalling.

187G: BURNING TOE BURIED IN TOBACCO TIN

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This is a children’s book that was read to us in class during the mid-1970s, and I think it was more contemporary. It was humorous tales of mountain life. I believe it was from the perspective of a young boy. It is a collection of humorous short stories. In one of them, one of the characters gets his toe gets lopped off by an axe. The toe is buried in a tobacco tin. The amputee is tormented by burning sensation where the toe used to be. He believes it is burning because the tobacco is irritating the severed toe, so the boy has to find the tin, rinse the tobacco off. They do, and coincidentally (?) his pain is relieved.

187F: KIDS FIND SECRET ROOMS AND TREASURE IN OLD HOUSE (Solved)

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This is a children’s book that was read to us in class during the mid-1970s, but I felt it was from an earlier era. A family moves to the country, moves into a big, old, dusty, neglected house. There is a solid wood table that they sand and polish with linseed oil. I think there is a scene where the children explore a sealed-off hallway by climbing in through an outdoors upstairs window. I think one of the kids has some chocolate with them and they eat it and they are very thirsty but there is no water, but they quench their thirst by leaning their head out the window and drinking rainwater from a busted downspout. Maybe in the same book they find some old jewelry in a secret compartment behind a medicine cabinet?

187E: KIDS SKIP SCHOOL IN TROPICS FOR A YEAR (Solved)

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This is a children’s book that was read to us in class during the mid-1970s, but I felt it was from an earlier era. In it, a brother and sister leave school and join their father and his friend (a man) on a yacht in the tropics for a year. Their father’s friend acts as a tutor. They do their lessons on ship. They swim in the sea and eat breadfruit. I was impressed at how mature and capable and adventurous the kids were.

187C: Shinkin, Shinkin, I am granny Shinkin

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I’ m looking for a young adult novel set in Wales (or possibly Cornwall), published in the 1940s or early to mid 1950s (based on my age when reading it). I recall a Customs (Revenue) Officer who was trying to stop smuggling, some accusations of witchcraft involving an old woman who was named Granny Shinkin (or something like that) and, at one point, a massive civil disobedience action where many women all dressed up the same and chanted the words in the stumper title to keep the Customs Officer from arresting the old woman.

187B: Eggplants and basketball save a town (Solved)

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The area was in financial trouble, and a boy did some research and found out that eggplants would grow well there. Tall triplet boys (they were French?) learned to play basketball, the team got new eggplant-colored jerseys, and the big game or tournament was won for eggplant publicity. The boys referred to a basketball while they were practicing and playing, saying things like, “Pass me the eggplant” or “Throw the eggplant.” They were trying to persuade farmers to plant eggplants, I think, and maybe trying to get publicity for the town. I think the cover art was an eggplant dropping into a basketball hoop.

187A: “Ghost”

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This was a paperback book that I read in the late 1970’s. I believe the story took place in the 1960’s or 1970’s. The cover of the paperback was white and a teenage girl’s face was looking out a window that had lacy curtains and I believe the curtains had daisies or flowers on the bottom of them. The picture on the cover had a sort of lacy dream look to it. The title of the book was “Ghost” or “Ghosts”, I do not know who the author was. Despite the title of the book, it had nothing to do with ghosts, the supernatural, or hauntings. It was a story of a teenage girl’s coming of age with her first high school boyfriend. The girl’s mother does die of pneumonia in the story, but again that is not the main storyline. In one part of the book the girl and her father go put to eat at a diner and the father kills a cockroach that crawls across the table with his thumb (Yuck!). Towards the end of the book the girl decides to stay overnight with her boyfriend and he gives her what is described as a “shy new bridegroom smile”.

186G: Children’s Book About Foxes (solved)

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I read this book around 1996 and it looked kind of old then. It was a hard cover, wide book and I’m pretty sure the picture on the front was yellow/orange. Very autumn like. The story was about a family of foxes, a mother, father, a son and a daughter (they specifically used the word vixen). The little vixen fox went and found an elderly couple who lived in a house and stayed with them. They gave her a red ribbon to wear. Her leg got caught in a hunter’s trap, and her mom came and lay down with her, where I think it snowed on them and they died together. Every year after that a certain kind of flower (might have been red) would grow in the shape of their bodies laying together.