In the beginning of the book a boy (think it’s a boy, could be girl) is walking down the street when a newspaper or flyer wraps around his leg. He looks at it and reads the word veni in Latin (I come or I am coming) and smells wet ashes. Later in the book the figure/ghost is beckoning him to jump in a well (?) or off a cliff – he’s saved by someone, but that’s all I remember. Hope you can help.
Edit: The author of this post found the title of the book before I got around to posting their Stumper: The Figure in the Shadows!
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.
The book I cannot recall is a chapter book that my 4th grade teacher read with our class.
The story begins with a small family in a cabin in the woods. Each night, they hear a knock at the door, and whoever answers the door disappears. The reader soon discovers that the a pair of magic boots have been walking themselves up to the door, forcing themselves onto the feet of who answers, and walking them off into the forest. Each family member disappears until only 1 boy, the protagonist, is left. He manages to trap the boots in a pot, pours (honey or molasses?) onto the boots, and puts 2 rats into the enclosure with the boots. The rats eat the boots and become "bewitched," and the boy stands on the rats and rides them into the forest to find his family. He is led to a troll or giant, but I cannot remember how the story concludes.
Please help!
I am looking for a book that I read when I was about 7. It was probably published in the late 80s to early 90s and was basically a paranormal handbook geared towards kids. I would check it out from the juvenile section of my local library and it featured directions for basic ghost hunting and how to test ESP. It featured Shel Silverstein-like illustrations of kids doing the experiments (you know, that line art style that was so popular in the 80s). It may have had any (or none! how exciting!) of the following words in the title: paranormal, extrasensory perception, ghosts.
It’s a children’s book, I think middle grade level? Not sure though, but I don’t remember it having pictures. A girl wants a horse for her birthday, but her parents get her a model horse instead. Girl is disappointed (I would be too!). She climbs a tree with the model and puts it on a branch, but is mad at it and flicks it down to the ground. It comes to life (full sized) and talks. She rides it around. I don’t remember how it ends. I probably read it in the early 90’s.
I am wracking my brain and cannot for the life of my remember the name of a book I read as a child/pre-adolescent. The premise was that there was a blonde doll who was actually “alive,” and demanded all sorts of things from the nice girl who owned her—like a car, clothes, etc. And the girl would try to explain what she could and couldn’t afford. Later I think a brown-haired doll who is nicer replaces her? I remember the hard cover of the book being a teal color and there being a photo of the blonde doll on it.
The book I remember reading was from about 1963-64. It would’ve been geared toward 5th – 6th grade reading level, for girls. For some reason, I thought the author was Rumer Godden, but I researched her books and I don’t think it was hers. If I remember correctly, it was about three friends…girls who would’ve been middle school age and how they interacted. Of course, it was a more innocent time, not like the books geared for the kids today.
The only image I have is an overhead view of the girls sitting in a circle, outside. I believe it could’ve been a summer afternoon? It may have been end-of-summer, before heading back to school.
I wish I could recall more or had some part of the title, author or more of what the story was about. I just know I liked the book so much and was able to relate to the circle of friends.
I hope you’ll be able to find out what book this was.
This is a book that I started reading in 5th grade, but never finished. It must have been published in 1972 or earlier. It was wildly popular in my school library.
It was set in the Middle Ages, I think. One of the main characters was a court jester. The setting was very pastoral. Many scenes take place in a forest. There was also a situation in which several people were dreaming the same dream.
This has been haunting me for a long time. Would love to find and finish this book. Thank you!