Category Archives: MG (grades 2-6)

185D: Creative Siblings on the HomeFront (solved)

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children during one of the great World Wars (probably ww2) spend a summer playing together. They put on a play, make the costumes out of cheesecloth. They also gather scrap metal for recycling and buy war stamps. They are living in a very old and large rambling house. One day they discover that the peeling wallpaper in a little used empty room is covering old newspaper clippings so they decide to peel more off to investigate. It turns out the entire room was once papered with newspapers. I have no memory of the title, just these random slice of life events. I don’t think there is much of a plot beyond these.

185B: Fox in a Box hunted by Joe (solved)

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My entire family thinks I’m crazy now. Was challenged by one of those ‘name 10 books that have stayed with you’ and could not think of the name of a children’s picture book that we read almost daily when I was growing up.

The book included the rhyme: A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go,
We’ll catch a fox and put him in a box,
And then we’ll let him go!

But I do not think it included the remainder of the rhyme, only that part with the fox in the box. As I recall the cover of the book was green, and about 1/4 to 1/2″ in depth. Maybe 12″ in length, and 10″ in height. Probably published in the 1960s, because it was something I learned to read as a child.

The plot of the book was that Joe wanted to go fox hunting, catch a fox and put him in the box, and then let him go. I believe, he was going to hunt the fox with a bow and arrow, and did shoot the fox in the leg with the arrow. He put the fox in the box, and the fox pleaded with him to remove the arrow and let him go, as Joe promised. But Joe wanted to keep the fox. Ultimately, the fox was let go.

I always thought the book was called Fox in a Box, but cannot find it under that name. It was definitely not a Dr. Seuss book.

Would be awesome if you could find this book.

184A: Boy Believes that Resistance Fighter Dad is Still Alive

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I want to buy this book and need help!!!! I do not know the name or the author, but the book The Long Way Home by Margot Benary-Isbert is NOT it.

The story was written for teenagers. It was in my junior high or high school library and I read the book (many times, I enjoyed it very much) around the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

It took place after WWII.

A young (10?,12?, 14?) boy’s father fought in the war as a member of the French (?) resistance or underground. The father was supposedly killed during the war and his son then placed in an orphanage, residential school, or something similar. The son wants to believe that his father somehow survived. On the basis of a partial name similar to his father’s, which is mentioned in a torn newspaper article about a former French (?) resistance fighter teaching or something for some California (?) university (?). The boy hoped/believed that somehow his father actually survived the war and was living in the United States.

An international adoption program placed French (?) war orphans with adoptive parents in the United States. The boy did all he could at the orphanage/school – good grades, great behavior, etc – to get himself into the adoption program. The boy wanted to search for his father and saw the adoption program as the means to get to the United States.

The young boy is placed with an American couple. The adoptive father (Cal???) was a WWII veteran whose capture by the enemy was prevented by some French (?) civilians. Cal (?) wanted to “give back” by adopting a French (?) child/war orphan. I think the adoptive mother’s name was Sally. The couple is wonderful to the boy and the boy quickly comes to love them both very much. However, the boy cannot drop the hope/belief that his biological father is alive and the boy is compelled to make it to the town/college mentioned in the torn newspaper article.

About a month or so after arriving in the United States and moving in with Cal and Sally (?), the boy runs away to the town/college mentioned in the article. The boy has adventures along the way. He somehow meets up and travels a while with a young want-to-be reporter who sees a prospective human-interest story and perhaps the opportunity for an entry level position as a reporter in the orphan’s quest.

The boy eventually arrives at the place mentioned in the article and learns that the man mentioned in the article is not his father. Sadly, the man confirms that the father was indeed killed during the war. Because of his involvement in the underground, the man had known the boy’s father and is able to tell the boy the circumstances of his father’s death.

The boy is desolate, alone, and afraid – believing he has no options and no one. His biological father is dead and he felt he could not return to Cal and Sally as he had rejected them by running away. The want-to-be reporter who was following the boy contacts his adoptive parents. He explains what happened, and tells them where they can find the boy. Cal travels to the boy and reassures him that they love him and want him. Cal brings the boy home.

I think the title had the words “Long Journey” or “Long Road” in it.

182C: Boy who could go into animals minds (solved)

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looking for a childrens book about a boy who can get into animals minds. Can’t control them , but know what they feel and think. He helps a local vet, figure out what’s wrong with various animals. Ultimately the boy gets killed while in the “mind” of a horse, and realizes he can go to other animals, as book ends with him going into a eagle and soaring away. I thought the name was something like “the boy who talks to animals” or something along those lines, but come up empty when I search. Can anybody out there help me figure this one out?

182A: “No School Tomorrow”? (solved)

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This is a children’s book that I believe was written in the 1920’s or 1930’s. It is a chapter book about a little girl and her summer vacation. She would play in her backyard and make little houses out of twigs and leaves for fairies, and cook out in the backyard. Her father calls her by the nickname of “Louella Pouella”. She is having her bedroom redecorated, and her father asks her if she would like to have her bedroom painted “sky blue pink”. I believe the book was titled “No School Tomorrow” or “There is No School Tomorrow”, but I have no idea who the author was. I purchased this book in 1966 at my grade school book fair. Any help would be appreciated.

181E: Child’s Book Featuring the Miami Dolphins Football

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I am looking for a book that a friend read when he was younger. Below is the only details I have:

1) Children’s Book purchased through a “scholastic” type of club
2) It’s about football, more specific has information about the Miami Dolphin’s Football Team
3) He was probably reading it between 1970-1975
4) I thought he mentioned something about the title having numbers in it – like One, Two, Three Kick or something like that.
5) He spent his childhood in Canada but the book definitely includes information about the Miami Dolphins’ Football team because he became a fan of the team because of the book.
Hopefully I haven’t stumped you because I would really like to find this book. I realize you don’t have a lot to go on.

 

181C: Unknown Beastmaster (solved)

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Unknown Beastmaster – not the series, but a single book, and this one has a young woman (perhaps a teen) as the main character. She somehow ends up in a gorgeous forest (definitely a fantasy book) where she can communicate with the ‘beasts’ and becomes the ‘master’ although the relationships are more friendly. I read this in the 70’s but have no idea when it was published. The cover had a picture of the young girl surrounded by vines and lush vegetation and of course animals. I always remembered the title as Beastmaster but it comes up in no searches, anywhere. Can anyone help? Thanks!