Author Archives: admin

112B: Girl Befriends Boy Who Is Ultimately Murdered

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I must have read this book when I was in 3rd-5th grade, so it would have to be published prior to 1980. Parts of the plot I can recall is a young girl goes away from home, I think she goes to the south or was from the south, and she was probably 10-12 years old, meets a boy that is a little older than she is, and she befriends him, but he ultimately gets killed by some mean boys who drag him to his death with a car I believe. I think it takes place over the summer, because I don’t recall any school parts.

112A, solved: Girl’s father falls in love with witch, girl tries to prove/stop it

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I read a paperback book from my junior high school library in 1989. It’s about a girl and her father meets a pretty woman who has a son or daughter too (can’t remember who moved into the area or how they meet). The youngsters become friends. The father falls in love with the woman, but the girl gets suspicious of her – she notices that the woman is a bit strange. She discovers photos of her looking exactly the same in past decades. She finds out the woman is a witch and does not age, the witch’s son or daughter doesn’t either.  The witch had been dating, marrying, and killing the husbands after a few years because they see that the woman and kid stay young. The girl tries to prove to her father that he is in danger and tries to stop him from marrying her. I think the book is set in either the south or in New England, I remember fog and time playing a role in the story.

111B: Princess and Peasant Girl Swap Places

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A princess and a peasant girl swap places. The princess is lonely, and hates being made to embroider (she embroiders tiny frogs and snakes in a corner of the canvas) or to dress up and go and see the countess with her mother. The peasant girl comes from a large noisy family and rarely gets any attention or nice clothes. They meet and swap places. The peasant girl can embroider beautifully and asks if she may have a new dress and visit the countess much to her unknowing mother’s delight. The princess loves having dirt between her bare feet, finding frogs and sitting up to the table with a noisy family.
They end up staying in their new roles.

This book was probably produced around the 1989-1990.
It had beautiful whimsical illustrations and I think, a red cover.

111A: Honey Farm

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Children’s picture book definitely pre-2000 and probably earlier. Young girl lives on a honey farm, possibly w/ her grandmother. Girl has to get honey from cellar but is scared by “monster” who is maybe a man w/ hat and trenchcoat. He may be chased by bees at the end. Soft, pastel-like illustrations.

110F, solved: Book About Reincarnation

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My mom read a book about reincarnation in 1964, and she thinks it’s called “Through a Glass Darkly.” All she can remember of the plot was: Two girls were in a swimming pool, and one of the girls saved the other from drowning, but then drowned herself. She was then reincarnated as a Nurse in a hospital. Somehow she eventually recalls that she had rescued the girl(or kid) in a previous life. (and that’s all my mom remembers) Any thoughts? We’ve seen two of the other books called “Through a Glass Darkly,” and neither one is the one she’s looking for. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

110E: The Spiderman (Not Marvel!)

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I remember my Grandmother reading us this book in the late 70’s, though the book looked much older.  I really think it was called ‘The Spiderman’ but it was written way before the Marvel comic book character, and was actually about a man who could turn himself into a little spider.  I remember it had black and white illustrations, which showed him as a tiny black spider with a strange man’s face.  The pictures were actually pretty comical, but I don’t think that was the intention.

110D, solved: Unusual Pencil-drawings

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Our teacher showed us this book in 1993; it had full-page pencil drawings with unusual captions.  I remember one of the drawings was of a young boy sleeping and the caption said something like “Archie (don’t remember last name).  A small voice said ‘he’s the one.'” I think another picture was of a room or staircase, and there was a tiny, maybe six-inch high door built into the wall.  I want to say our teacher mentioned that the illustrator had dropped off the illustrations and captions at a publishers, said he would return the next day, but never showed.  So the pictures were published into this book but no one knows who actually drew them.

 

110C, solved: Young Adult book about Jason and the Golden Fleece

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I read this library book in the 1960s but it could have been published earlier. A young girl is chosen to represent her village by becoming a handmaiden to the temple where the Princess Medea serves. This girl is chosen because she has some special mystical power even though she is very shy. She loves Medea and makes friends with others there. And she tells the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from her point of view. The book ends with Jason leaving Medea and Medea, in her grief, killing their children. There are many references to the Maiden the Mother and the Crone in the book.