Category Archives: 1970s

332V: Witch Balls & a Cursed Child’s Palm

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I read this book at some point during late grade school/junior high, probably between 4th & 8th grade, so somewhere between 1980-86. It was a pre-teen horror of the old school, by which I mean it assumes kids can actually handle seriously creepy, potentially life-threatening stuff. It was an older library book that our awesome school librarian recommended to me. Maybe published in the 50's or 60's? Definitely before the late 70's, given the age of the library's copy & when I read it. Unfortunately, there's no cover art I can reference as it had a green cloth binding with no dust jacket.

I don't remember much of the plot but what I do remember is as follows: A junior-high aged girl goes to visit her grandmother for the summer in a small village. Grandma is a witch (good, natch). Another woman has moved into town & grandma suspects her to be a bad witch. Bad witch tries to start a witch war. I can't remember if it was for a specific reason or just because she was a bad witch & that's what bad witches do. Similar in feel to The House With a Clock In Its Walls series or the Green Knowe books but a smidge darker. I believe it was located somewhere in New England, but I wouldn't swear to it. I *think* there were cars & telephones but the time frame was kinda vague. Or my memory is. And that's all for the overall plot.

I do, however, remember some weird specifics. The grandma hung a witch ball over the front door to see if the new neighbor was evil. She had a bottle tree, too. There were lots of nifty little folkloric witchy things like that. The thing that sticks clearest in my mind is that grandma gets a letter with what appears to be child's hand print. Grandma recognizes it as the actual skin of a child's hand & proceeds to place the skin inside an old Bible, which she wraps up tightly so it can't be opened because said palm skin is a curse. That scene has stuck with me ever since I read it, as one might imagine. It's pretty unique. Other than that, I can remember exactly where it was located in my grade school library but that's probably not much help. (Second from last bookcase on the left, third shelf from the top, right side, below the Nancy Drew books.)

 

332P: Months of the Year with a Blond Curly-Haired Girl (Solved!)

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I am hoping the little info I can give you will be enough to identify a book that I would love to secure for my daughter- one of her favorites. I think the book must have dealt with months of the year instead of days of the week. The illustrations were in pastels and the little girl throughout the book had blond curly hair. My daughter would have been 5-7 years old when she was reading the book. She was born in 1968 if that helps. I have Googled every way I can think of – so far no luck. This is a long shot – I really have no expectations – if nothing else, I am so happy to have found the Loganberry Books website.

332G: Blue Monday (Solved!)

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I am very sure the book I am searching for is called BLUE MONDAY. It’s about a group of adults that took a certain drug in their student days that was beginning to affect them years later and turning them into killers. The cover is a photo of a bald headed man with a maniacal laugh and a big knife in his hand. It was published and released in the the 1970s.

331Y: Margot Forces Agoraphobic Mother to Leave Apartment

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This is a 1970's or 1960's middle reader. Possibly 1980. A girl named Margot lives in a city with her mother, who has not left their apartment since the father left her. She gets along pretty well by having her groceries delivered and such. Margot gets tired of this and decides to spend the night at a library or something to force her mother to leave the apartment to find her. Not sure if her scheme works or not. A neighbor ends up dealing with the police after Margot is found; I remember her spelling Margot's name for them and telling them "The T is silent" and sounding very proud of this knowledge, like it's a family secret. There is also a boy whom Margot befriends.

331S: Black And White Line Drawing Picture Book

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Back in the mid to late 70s I recall a wonderful picture book that I read at primary school. I cannot remember any title or author details, but I do remember that the book was perhaps set in a forest? The illustrations were black and white until the last page I think, where they became full colour. I think they were line drawings. I imagine the book was published in the early 70s, maybe late 60s. I remember something about a rainbow as part of the story, i think this is why it was full colour on the last page. I also think a child was moving through the book. Thanks for your help

331R: Sabre Jet Pilot

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This book is autobiographical. I read it somewhere between the fall of 1973 and summer of 1976, acquiring it from my junior high school library. As I recall, the book is about a young Canadian who becomes a Sabre jet pilot and becomes stationed in West Germany during the Cold War. It covers the missions he flew, but it is also about what led him to flying and his engineering education and career. At one point during college he builds a small hovercraft using a vacuum cleaner motor. Of course, that intrigued me, a teenage boy with an interest in science and engineering. I’ve Googled and googled, but while there are lots of books about men who flew the Sabre, I can’t find this one.

331M: Deathwatch meets The Most Dangerous Game

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I read this YA book in the mid to late 70’s. It is definitely NOT Deathwatch or The Most Dangerous Game but it has similarities to both.  A man is being hunted by another man – I think simply because the hunter enjoys it.  I’m not sure if the hunted man has any weapons or vehicle.  The setting may be Africa or the southwest US.  There are a couple of plot twists.  The hunted man meets someone who offers to help him, but then it turns out that person also wants to kill him.  And then in another twist, maybe that turns out to be a mistaken impression. Or maybe the first guy ends up helping the hunted man because it turns out the second guy is the real bad guy.  The question of who he can trust is a big part of the plot.

331A: Russell Raccoon Discovers Wonderful World Of Daytime (Solved!)

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This was a favorite book of my children in the 70’s and 80’s and I made the motherly mistake of giving it away, so would dearly love to find a copy.  I don’t think Russell’s name was in the title.

Russell Raccoon was not like the other raccoons.  He couldn’t sleep in the daytime and fell asleep at night when his gang was out scavenging  One day when he couldn’t sleep he wandered out of his home to discover a whole wonderful world of daylight.   He met a little boy with whom he became friends.  There was a delightful picture of Russell riding on the back of the boy’s tricycle.  When the boss of his raccoon gang, Emma Jean Smudge, found out what he was doing she hit him on the head with her purse and told him to stay away from humans.  Picture of that was very funny.  One day when Russell went to visit his friend, the boy brought him inside his house and showed him the bedroom that had been made for Russell, complete with a little bed with his name on it.  Russell decided to move in with the boy.  The last page of the book shows all of Russell’s group including Emma Jean standing in line outside the house door at night as Russell hands out fig newtons.

330N: Krakatoa Survivors Stories

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I read a paperback in my parent’s basement about the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa. This would have been in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Although factual, it was an easy read as if historical fiction. It described how the politicians delayed evacuating the island because there was an election coming up. It also talked about a guy put in jail who was one of the few survivors. It described the pyroclastic cloud and flow. There were a couple of other people who survived that is focused on, one a baby, I think. All I can find is Winchester’s book, which I have read. It’s so long ago, I can’t recall the title or author. Do you think you can help?