Category Archives: MG (grades 2-6)

173F: Similar yet not matching “Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet”

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I do know the book I am seeking is not the Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, but it does have a similar premise. I read it in the 50’s. It is illustrated with black and white pencil illustrations. The basic story is some children build a wooden spaceship and in the process one of them finds a flexible silvery disc that is nailed to the nose of the wooden vessel. The children discover that it can actually fly and they also discover the alien the disk belongs to, it is his own ship.
During their adventures they go to a variety of planets, one with giant jelly plants and another with bubbles, one that traps the alien who has to be rescued by the children with the very same fingernails he was so critical of earlier.

171D: Money

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I believe the title of the book I am looking to find is called “Money”
It’s about several children who find hidden money in an old man’s house and agree to keep it a secret, so they can not use any of it.
One of the boys is obsessed with getting candy, another wants to invest in stocks and bonds…definitely a girl in this group, however I can’t remember who it was she wanted to buy.
If you can help identify the book I would be delighted. The title always brings up millions of response in search engine and of course, the first few hundred are Martin Amis “Money” — however, that story is very different than the book I seek.

171B: Young Boy Feels Banished (solved)

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Child’s chapter book, designed for ages 8-11. Published late 80’s or early 90’s. A  young boy is brought to spend the summer with his great aunt and uncle. Feeling banished and angry, he refuses to stay in touch with his parents. Little by little, however, he opens up to adventures of life in the country, making friends with his relatives, with their pet hen (who they speak to only in French: “Va te coucher, Pauline”) and with a young girl on a nearby farm. Toward the end there is a wild search for the beloved hen.

170B: Family who lives in a tent and moves from place to place

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I’m trying to track down a book I remember reading and LOVING as a child back in the 1960s. I was probably 8 or 10 at the time. I don’t recall there being any pictures. It was about a girl and her family who migrated from place to place and lived in a tent. I remember there being detail about how they set up their tent to make it feel like home. The little girl had a shoe box of some sort that all her belongings and treasures were kept in. She may or may not have had a doll, too. I can’t recall the plot. I just recall being fascinated by a little girl living in a tent and having to move everything the family owned from place to place. Any help you can give me would be great!

170A: Blond siblings with a Crazy Aunt (Setting may be Europe) (solved)

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This series of books was in my intermediate school library, which I attended in 1984-86. The main characters were sisters, maybe twins or just close in age. I believe there were only two or three books in the series and the girls kind of came of age during the series. One plot in the first book involved a mentally ill aunt. When the girls visit her, she tells one of them that her shoes are “shit brown,” and the librarian or administration at my school had very noticeably blacked out the word “shit”. I think in one of the books a death in the family is also dealt with. There were occasional black and white illustrations in the books. They were probably each less than 100 pages. I have a sense that they may have taken place in Germany or Austria. If not, then maybe the characters were immigrants to the USA from one of those countries. I’m picturing a purple or light blue cover/binding. Thanks for any leads!

169G: Beaver kids’ young sister is named Crackie, chapters end with non sequiturs (solved)

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I found it at a library sale in the early ’80s and it’s long since lost. Hardcover, no jacket, a drawing of two beaver kids against a dark green background (if memory serves). A chapter book, maybe 100 pages. Pulp paper. Pub date could have been 1900 to 1940; I would be shocked if it’s any more recent.

The two things I remember:

1. The little beaver sister, Crackie, earned her name because she constantly cracks or breaks things. In one chapter she drops an ice cream cone and the tip breaks off.

2. The last sentence of every chapter contains a non sequitur in this form: “And as long as I have time to bring Mrs. Gaffney the blueberry pies for her pet cat, I’ll tell you the next part of the story.” (There is no reference to Mrs. Gaffney, pies, or a cat anywhere else in the book.) I remember the ones in the book being truly amazing and weird.

Thanking you all in advance