Category Archives: MG (grades 2-6)

290B: A school bus that is not magical (Solved)

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Hello, this is a middle grade paperback book I read in the 1980s. It had simple black and white pen-type illustrations. (I think. It’s possible there were no illustrations.)

A professor takes a select group of kids to live for the summer in a school bus near the beach. It is not magical. Everyone gets to choose their own bunk and decorate their area.  They study nature like tide pools and write in notebooks.They have to write every day.  The professor plays the guitar and write his own lyrics.

One of the songs goes something like this:

Yes is best, but next to that is maybe.

We’ll say can sometimes grow to yes,

but when they say I doubt it, you’re on your way to no.

I don’t think so, I don’t think so,

down, down, down,

there’s no where else to go

but frown and then say no.

They make a clam pit and have a clam bake. They go visit a mansion and everyone chooses a room and picks out clothes from the closet of that room to wear to dinner. One girl wears “paper ballet slippers” to the dinner and  I have spent my entire life trying to figure out how that would work. Everyone suddenly sees her as beautiful.

There was also something about how they managed privacy and all the kids created their own outdoor “rooms” where they could be alone and undisturbed when they got over peopled.

 

289L: She discovers an antique China doll in the rags

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The book I’m looking for is a chapter book. It was in my elementary school library in the late 1970s but it was an old book. The cover was purple. The story was a girl who had to stay with an uncle and aunt. She goes to an auction and buys a bundle of rags for a penny. When she gets home she discovers an antique China doll in the rags. She loves the doll but in the end returns it to the lady who owns it and gets another doll in exchange.

289H: Not the traditional stories

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Hello! I’m trying to find a children’s book collection of chapter books from the early 1980’s. Probably 3rd/4th grade level. I recall at least 5 books in a boxed set, which I received in 1982.

Definitely fairy tales, but not the traditional stories that everyone knows.

There were a number of stories with different characters. Pixies, fairies, wood sprites, a Dodo bird, etc. There were some illustrations, but I think it was mostly at the beginning of each chapter.

288G: Mother and daughter flee from France to Canada

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I am trying to locate an older book I read back in 5th grade elementary school, older than 1985 and possibly published before 1980. This is a small hardcover book (5 x 7?), children’s historical fiction. A mother and daughter have fallen from the graces (have disgraced or angered) the king and queen in France, maybe between 1600-1700 (did daughter say something to make the king mad?). They are being sent away (or flee) to New World, most likely Canada. I think the mother and daughter were seamstresses for the royalty and made their own clothes. Book is NOT Angelique, not The Frenchwoman either. Thank-you for trying to locate book, especially when I cannot remember title at all and am trying to find book over 30 years later!

288E: Ragamuffins and a talking cat (Solved)

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I remember my mother reading aloud to us a chapter book (in the early 1960s) about a group of children called Ragamuffins (maybe just four children). They meet a talking cat named Pouffon (that is how she pronounced the name; I don’t know how it is spelled). Each time the cat speaks though, it loses one of it’s special whiskers, or it’s whiskers changes back to a normal color. It was very sad when the cat spoke for the last time, to help the children, since the cat only had one special whisker left. I think the book is probably a literary award winning book, since my mother made sure we read all of the Newberry and Caldecott Award winning books. I hope it is still in print. I think the book had a navy blue cover, (hardback), and maybe a line drawing at the start of each chapter. It may have been published much earlier than the 60s. It was probably a library book, and was pretty well-worn then.

 

Thank you so much for your help!

287C: A tree in the forest with special powers

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Looking for a children’s chapter book from the 1960s or early 70’s about a tree in the forest that has special powers. I recall that the vines were alive as was the tree – but I recall only a girl in the story could communicate with the tree and either visited or lived beneath the ground by the tree? For some reason I recall descriptions about being under the ground at times. I don’t think it was a scary tree. More like a friend and protector to the girl. Would love to track it down if possible.

 

286H: A world without reflections

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I am looking for a children’s book I read in 90s. I read it in the library of the language school.

A group of children find a gate that leads to another world, a world without any reflections (even when looked at surface of water). The gate itself is such that it does not pass any metals (coins burn red hot if attempted to be carried through). One of the children find out that their ancestors originate from this world, and that world is now under control by mean men. At the book first climax, a Locket Necklace worn by the child happened to contain small mirror, and it is used to distract and defeat the leader of the mean men.

286F: Girls go to wrong house on Halloween, meet strange girl in spider costume (Solved)

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This was a kids’ picture book from the late 70s or early 80s (probably 4/5th grade reading level, 32ish page length, not just a simple picture book but not chapter or young adult) level. The premise is that two friends (I think they were two girls, might have been just one) show up at a house for a Halloween party, They think it’s the right house, but upon getting inside, are met with another girl who I *think* was wearing some kind of a spider costume – she might even have been named “spider”. They proceed to go to the basement (which I don’t remember being a scary development). At some point they swap costumes (possibly against the will of the girl who showed up to the house).  The girl who came to the house doesn’t want to be there, and eventually finds a way to escape/leave. Important to underscore that even though it sounds a bit this way,the tone of the book isn’t scary or sinister – more just a vibe of “strange” and “oddball”. A fun little Halloween story that I vaguely remember and am desperate for help locating!