Category Archives: MG (grades 2-6)

346L: NYC girl and cat go to ancient Egypt

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Read in 1973-1978, for elementary school readers, minimal illustrations. A girl from the Upper West Side (i think) has a stepmother who she is in conflict with, and a cat who she loves. Somehow she and the cat are transported to ancient Egypt where cats are venerated, and maybe her cat is even Bastet. Someone in ancient Egypt also represents the present-day stepmother. Girl returns and the resolution with the stepmother is refreshingly NOT fantasy-perfect.

345V: Elementary school reader – Pigs trying to sell their house

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Hi! I'm trying to find a school book from the late '60's or very early 70's. Probably a second grade reader but I'm not certain. It has multiple stories and the one I remember is about a married couple of pigs trying to sell their house. Each animal that comes to look at it suggests something they would like changed about the house. The pigs change each thing and by the end of the story they don't want to sell their house anymore. Does anyone remember this book? It was read with the classic Dick and Jane books for sure.

345J: Young Girl Decries Dangers of Reading When Chased by a Bull

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Read this book when I was around 8, which puts it at 1960.  I am sure it was not new at that time.

Written by someone like Thurber or Ogden Nash, it was a collection of children’s short stories.  The only one that I can remember clearly was about a little girl who couldn’t read. At the end, when she is being chased by a bull, she comes to the conclusion that reading (words?) are dangerous.  The sign she couldn’t read said something  like, ‘beware of  bull.’

Hoping you can help me.

345G: “A place…” book for a Brit (Solved!)

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I am in desperate search of a book for my dear British friend. She grew up in Suffolk, England, born in 1958, and remembers a book she used to pour over as a girl:
Possible title: A Place of Your Own
Contents: pictures and descriptions of homes, rooms, treehouses and places where children (and maybe young adults) escape to be kids
Publication Dates: at least published by 1972
Location: read in Suffolk, England

345D: Search for children’s book vaguely remembered – White Girl Joins African Tribe

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I am looking for a juvenile book I vaguely remember. I can remember the library I borrowed it from and the exact look of that library, but not the book title, author, or clear details!  My only memories of the book are: 
 
I believe it was a story about a white (American? British?) girl who somehow passes through (a mirror? a book?) into the life of an African tribal people. After becoming friends with (another child? the tribe?) she regrettably has to return to her modern life through the same (magic?) process she used getting there. I believe the friend/tribe give her a string of beads to remember them by (?).  The book would have been been appropriate reading for probably pre-puberty ages – 10-14? 
 
That’s all the info I have, and I hope you are NOT stumped! This book has always stayed in my mind, no matter how vague my memory is, and I want to read it again to find out why. 

345A: Geometric Mood Diary (Solved!)

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I have been searching for a book for a few years now without much success. I read it between the ages of 7-10 (I am 43), it was a chapter book in a diary format, the cover was black and white (maybe speckled?) and each diary entry had some sort of drawing — I want to say a geometric pattern to describe the mood of the entry. That is all i remember, besides the fact that I loved the book and continually checked it out from the 79th street public library in NYC.

344X: Secret Pointe Shoes

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I had a flash of a memory of a childhood book.  I have googled and googled but can’t find it, and it is driving me crazy!!!  So here goes the parts I remember:

It was a book about girls, not sure how many, that take ballet classes at a studio which I think was located in a mall or a strip mall.  Rival studio that is fancier is a possibility but more vague memory of that so could be wrong.  One of the girls sees a pair of pointe shoes in the store that are an unusual color, maybe purple?  And she decides she wants to get them and learn how to use them, but she does it in secret because her ballet teacher says she is not at all ready to start with pointe.  There is something that makes her feel like she is less than the other girls and that leads her to use the pointe shoes in secret.  I think she even ruins her feet and ballet progress in the process.  I also want to say that it is a part of a series, either a ballet series or as a ballet focused book in a larger series.  Also very good chance it was a book fair book , I got a lot of books that way.

344U: Grumpy Doll in Dollhouse

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• children’s book read in 2006-2011. Could have been quite old by then
• a new doll came to live in the doll house and didn’t trust the human caring for them, she stole things like a coin and a piece of hair to try and cast a spell on them
• the human returned from a trip and gave the doll something nice like a new rug or bed spread and it made the doll realize she was wanted and loved
• this was a traditional dollhouse – old and beautiful. The human was fixing it up and making it nice again. She was very thoughtful towards the dolls.
• this is not The Dolls’ House by Rumer Godden
• might have had a pink cover. It was a chapter book but not very lengthy

344S: Boy with a Magic Pencil?

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I recall a young adult chapter book from my youth (late 1970s-early 1980s) about a boy with a magic pencil. It is used like a regular pencil, but it might have been blue lead. Like a regular pencil, it needs to be sharpened, and gets slightly smaller each time. I can’t recall the things he made or did with it. Some dramatic emergency with the last bit of pencil.  Apologies but that’s all I remember.

344M: Historical Women Biographies For Kids

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During the 1968-69 school year, when I was in fourth grade, I read a series of biographies on famous historical women from my school library. The ones I remember are Harriet Tubman, Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, and Clara Barton, but I think there were others as well. I believe they were hardcover in the style of Nancy Drew books, but possibly a different size. I’ve found many books about these women on Ebay from that time frame, but none that “match” as parts of a series. Does anyone recognize this book series? Thank you for any assistance.