Author Archives: Julie Beckers

337Y: During WWI, Grumpy Old Man Befriends Teen Girl (Solved!)

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So the book is set in America in WWI around 1918 during the flu epidemic. I want to say Philadelphia or New York. The main character is a female teen or preteen. Prior to being sent to the country to escape the flu, there was a scene with the mother’s favorite tea cup boiled in milk to repair a break.
The girl is sent to live with an older man in the country. She gets sick and he has her shining vinegar as a curative. After she’s well, they collect peach pits for gas masks, knit scarves and socks for soldiers, sew gauze masks, etc for the war effort.  The old man also fries fresh donuts as a treat for him and the girl.
I know they eventually become great friends, although she thought he was scary and grumpy at first meeting.

337X: Brother Who Grows Pot and Sister Who Works As Barista

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This book appears to be written by an ex-boyfriend and girlfriend who agree to write alternating chapters. The book includes their email conversations as they struggle over where the plot will go and rehash relationship mishaps.  It is very funny.  The mystery plot involves a brother and sister who live in a rural area.  He grows pot illegally and she works as a barista….

337W: Scared Ghost Loses His Candy

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I had this book back around kindergarten and now I’m a senior. I remember it was a block book, (I could be wrong, however) it was small, and it was a Halloween book. Sadly, the only piece of plot I remember is that the ghost ate candy, and then when it got scared, the candy fell out of him. I hope this helps!!

337T: Girl Starves Herself Trying To Feed Dead Brother

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I randomly remembered a book I read probably a few years ago now. I only remember a few oddly specific things.

For starters, this main girl had a brother and she would bring food out to their yard to him and that is just always where they met up. By a tree, I think. Then later we find out that the brother is actually dead and she has been imagining this all. And the food she was giving him in like these sandwich bags is her food and she wasn’t eating. So she sort of accidentally starved herself. And I think at a point near the end, the parents see all of the sandwich bags full of food out by the tree and sort of realize what has been going on.

That is all I can remember, I hope you can help!!

337R: Children’s European Story Collection

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Hello! I am looking for a storybook collection that I had in the 1980’s.

This book had a number of stories in it that seemed European based. I believe the first story was of a little boy whose mother made him green dungarees with a plane on them that he loved. He accidentally tore them on a fence and was very sad until his mother patched it with a star instead of a plane.
Another story was from Denmark about a boy whose father was a fisherman. The pictures in this one were monochromatic (rust colored.) The picture was of the boy standing close to the sea and possible the famous mermaid statue.
Another story was of a mother hedgehog. I believe it had a picture of a hedgehog in an egg cup.
I believe the back cover of the book was blue.
This book was read to me every night and it was my favorite. I would be so happy to finally find it again!

337Q: Hearts and Flowers

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I am looking for a 1920’s-30s romance, where the heroine earns her living being a professional letter writer, and she begins a correspondence with a young man (invalid/injured?) using the persona of an elderly motherly woman.  The only other detail that I can recall is she sent the young man some women’s hats and requested that he choose the one he liked for her.

337O: Children Stories About Science

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I remember two stories, and I believe they may be from the same book.  One story is of some kids that get “hired” by a local scrap metal company to figure out how to crack open metal cannonballs.  They first try burying it in the snow, but find that the snow acts as an insulator, preventing the cannonball from getting cold enough to crack.  The kids then re-try by leaving the cannonball in the open (at least that’s what I remember), at which point the metal is cold enough to crack.
The other story also involves children, this time on a beach.  They collect up seawater, rig up a distilling system, and then boil the water to make steam.  The steam is collected up as drinkable water.
Thanks in advance!

337N: Earth History As Scenes In A Play (Solved!)

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Children's illustrated science book about earth history, in which each age (formation of the solar system, age of dinosaurs, building Egypt's pyramids, etc.) is presented as a scene on stage in a play, with curtains to the sides. Last scene is at a typical house in the present day. Might have been printed in the 1930s or 1940s, was available in a grade-school library in the late 1970s.