Category Archives: MG (grades 2-6)

341S: Kids’ Adventure-Wilderness book about two boys settling land while their father returns home

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I read this book in the fifth grade so it’s definitely at a lower reading level and published sometime before 2011ish, though it definitely feels like a classic. It reminds me of The Swiss Family Robinson and The Boxcar Children.
I remember the book pretty well so I’ll recount the plot as best I can.
Two brothers set off with their father to settle a piece of land they bought for cheap in Idaho (I think it’s that but I’m not sure). It’s focused less on their journey and more on what they do once they’re there. They cut down trees and begin clearing land for their house and farmland. They begin building the log cabin with their father but then he leaves to go back and bring their mother and sister. I vividly remember how they had to walk around their land to find the best place to put their house and what trees to cut down.
Little do they know, some of their family catches scarlet fever and they have to continue to settle the land and fend for themselves in their father’s absence. They make traps to catch rabbits, use spears to hunt for fish in the river, and when winter comes they even find ways to preserve food for the winter by burying it deep in the snow. They also have to finish construction on the cabin by filling the gaps with mud so they don’t freeze. They learn many skills and assume their father isn’t coming back.
It’s a happy ending when he returns with their mother and sisters almost a whole year later. That’s where the story ends.
Every once in a while I’ll think of the story and try and find it but I haven’t had any luck yet. I remember it really well because when I was a kid I loved the books where characters had to build their own houses and find solutions to fend for themselves.
Please tell me I’m not just making this up!

 

341R: Boy in future accidentally falls down garbage chute? (Solved!)

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I am looking for a juvenile fiction book, written sometime in the 1980s. The premise is that people of privilege live indoors and never see the sun; the main character is a very haughty, arrogant teenager who lives indoors. A big deal is made about how pale and fat these people are. Somehow he accidentally ends up outside — I feel like he falls down a garbage chute — and ends up finding a village of families who live outside. After a while, he loses his arrogance and begins to enjoy his life outdoors. Eventually he makes his way back to his home, and I distinctly remember people shunning him because he has gotten muscles and a tan. I read it in the fifth or sixth grade, so it would have been aimed at children ages 10-12 or so.

The cover of the book shows the back of a pale bald boy, dressed in robes (they may be purple or blue?), running down a hallway. Thanks for the help!

341J: A Family’s Year of American Adventures

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I am looking for a book my uncle read while in 4th or 5th grade in the 1950’s. His teacher had assigned it to the entire class to read as a project. Some key points he remembers are a family pulled their children out of school for the year to travel the United States to experience new places and adventures. They went to a desert, they starred in a Hollywood movie, he also remembers something about birds – sparrow specifically – being in the book. He thinks there was a car on the cover, possibly pulling a trailer behind it.

Please help if you can, I would love to give him this book as a Father’s Day gift and he recently celebrated his 75th birthday too.

341E: Colorful Knights Defend White And Gold King

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The book I’m looking for is a children’s fiction book that included knights or warriors who were identified by color: green, blue, purple, etc. For sure my son remembers there was a purple one that almost got thrown into a pit of lava. These knights or warriors were defending a kingdom with a king who might have been identified through white and gold clothing. And they were trying to defeat a “dark Lord“ which is probably just a villain in the story and not referred to necessarily by those words.

Any help would be appreciated!

340W: A Children’s Book about Racism in a General Store

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This was a book used to discuss prejudices and racism in 5th grade classrooms in the late 90s. The characters in the book go to a general store and are treated poorly by others in the store. The N word is used many times throughout the book. I recall many Mildred D. Taylor books being used in this curriculum, so this could just be a specific chapter in one of her books, rather than the entire book? Perhaps The Friendship? I recall a specific young character in the book really wanting a piece of hard candy from the general store!

340Y: Hidden Paintings and Blueberries

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I am looking for a children’s mystery book about several siblings who are spending the summer in an old house and find several paintings hidden in the house by a deceased but famous painter. It seems as though their grandmother is with them and they spend time picking blueberries. I thought the name of the book was Blueberry Summer or The Blue Boy but these titles don’t match the book I remember. The book is about 50 -60 years old.

340X: Fun With A Doctor’s Mother And A Quaker Mother

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This book was written for young women, maybe 10 years old, and written in the late 50’s or maybe early 60’s.  For whatever reason, the words How Many Miles to Babylon has always been in my mind, but I know that book and this isn’t it.  The young girl has a doctor who is a hard-working doctor in a hospital, the mother is a “doctor’s wife” — very lively and fun and I think there is a sibling, maybe a little boy.  There is also the woman’s grandfather who I remember as a little stuffy and patrician.  The girl has a friend who is Quaker and has a mother who is a widow, I’m assuming.  They live alone together.  I remember wonderful details.  The Quaker mother makes lunch and asks the girls to set the table and they pick the blue dishes because they look so pretty against the raspberries.  The doctor’s wife mother picks her daughter up and says they are going on a road trip and I think that the sibling will stay with Granny.  Then they drive to the hospital and grab the husband because he needs a road trip!  The mother drives and the father and daughter laugh because she says rude things to the rest of the drivers.  She’s pretty hip.  I remember they stop at a roadside motel with cottages and the mother tells her to wear her bathing slippers in the shower because who knows!  The last thing I remember is lobster.  They have some kind of wonderful lobster.

I think they are in Philadelphia, or maybe Main Line suburban Philadelphia, but the only reason I think that is that the friend is Quaker.  That’s it!  The book I remember as illustrated but maybe it was just my imagination.  Thanks for anything you can find.

340S: Boy meets crows on a chessboard

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Seeking a children's/teen book I read in the 90's, the central character is a boy who went to a pond/lake when he was told not to and developed warts on his hands as a result. These are cured by a magician? in an early scene, a friend of his father maybe? I only remember two more scenes, one in which he remembers trying to pull a wart from his skin, and another in which he dreams? of a giant chessboard. The white pieces are standard king, queen, knights etc, but all of the black pieces are crows. Crows and chess pieces were a recurring image in the book, but I don't remember what purpose they served. Thanks to anyone who helps with this, it's stumped me for years!

340I: Girl Wakes Up Inside Dollhouse (Solved!)

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I read this book in 1995 from a middle school book fair. It was a children’s/young adult book. The cover had an evil doll with brown hair and looked like the doll was bursting through the cover. I remember the main character was a girl probably 10-12 years old. There was something about a dollhouse and waking up inside the dollhouse. Maybe she and her family had just moved to a new house? There was a part where the main character begins to realize she is inside the dollhouse because she finds a wide tooth comb and describes it as very large like someone would use if they had dreadlocks. Why I specifically remember that, no idea. I managed to lose the book over the years but it was a nostalgic favorite of mine. Hopefully you can help.