Category Archives: Series

250D: Two Brothers and a Flying Machine (Solved)

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I read a junior fiction trilogy in middle school in the early 70s.

It was about two brothers who build a flying machine (NOT the Wright brothers – as virtually all my searches return).
I think it was set in either England or New England, possibly on a farm; likely at the turn of the 20th century. I think their mother is one of the characters. I remember specifically a description of cool linen sheets – of all things!

I think both brothers may have liked the same woman. (They might have been cousins but I don’t think so…)

One of the brothers was injured at some point – either in a crash, or maybe in war? Walked with a limp and a cane after that.

I remember rich detail in the writing.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcomed. I’ve been hunting for years!

249F: A girl finds another world at the end of a tunnel (Solved)

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This was a three book series I read a few years ago. My library had them in the “young adult” section. I remember the book cover of one was green, I know one had vines on it. The book was about a girl and her family lived on a kind of farm and she finds this kind of tunnel. On the other side was a whole “colony” of these dwarf like things some of them had wings. There was this kind of Pegasus animal, it was small though and horse-like but had wings. I believe in the second book maybe the third the little girl gets sent to a boarding school and everyone thinks she crazy because she talks about these dwarf things.

One part of the book the Pegasus animal gets hurt and the girl takes care of it for a while in a sort of shed that her family no longer uses. At one point, I know, the two of them spend the night in a tree house sort of thing near the girls house. I know as you read the books it went back and forth of who was “narrating” like one or two chapters would be the girl side and then one or two chapters would be from the “dwarfs” side.

It was a kinda confusing series because it ended up that this little girl had had another life or something a long those lines. I don’t know how much help that is. There was something about a magical “touchstone” that guided the “dwarfs” they had migrated and at the end of the book they migrate again.

233C: A series follows a young girl to adulthood (Solved)

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The main character, Jennifer? Jennie? Jenny? Possibly on the farm could’ve been the first.
These were a series of chapter books featuring an American girl who (moves?) to the country, detailing her charming life on a farm. There were several from when she was about 6-8 to almost 20 I believe. There were animal characters, a boy she might have married, various family members. She takes up ballet in later books. She wears her hair in looped braids. I read these as a child in the 80’s but they were clearly written much earlier. I would say 40’s or 50’s. Possibly 30’s or 60’s but doubtful.

I would so very much love to find them for my own daughter! I adored these- not only because she had the same name as me. I remember being even fonder of them than the Betsy Tacy books. In a way they were in between those and the Little House stories. Set the stage for Anne of Green Gables. So curious to know why they’ve disappeared!

226E: Adventures in science (description updated)

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My husband is always talking about a series of books he read as a boy (born 1957), probably from school or city library. He remembers them being called “Adventures in…” followed by some sort of science title. The protagonists were two boys, one or both pre-teens. They would travel with their father and have what I guess were all science adventures (there could have been others, like mathematics, but my husband remembers only the two that were science oriented). The two he always talks about are the chemistry book (perhaps Adventures in Chemistry?) where the boys went to a laboratory and made toothpaste (he remembers the younger boy tasting the toothpaste and liking it) and a book about model rockets (Adventures in Rocketry, perhaps?). The boys and their dad are driving to a deserted place where they can shoot off their rockets and are stopped by the police who see all the rockets and the rocket motors in the car and are upset; maybe the dad shows them a permit to shoot off rockets or something to let the police know they are no threat. It’s our 25th anniversary coming up and I’d love to dig up one of these books, but I’ve never found them searching online.

221B: Girl moves to country with parents and falls in love with boy named Eric

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Hi! I’m looking for a book series written in the early 20th century (one in 1913)? It may be a children’s book series. It’s about a girl who moves to the country with her parents, where she falls in love with a boy named Eric.

Unfortunately I don’t have much more to go on, but here’s a few keywords/concepts that should appear in the series:

– The girl gets in trouble for wearing a skirt that goes above her ankles.
– Skiing with Eric.
– Wagons.
– Chickens?

Thank you so much for your help!!!

220B: Children’s Science Fiction Chapter Book Yellow Cover People with Powers in Hidden City

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I was in elementary school in the 90’s, and I remember a book or series of books in the school library that I believe were all by the same author but may not have contained the same characters. I think both books had yellow hard-back covers. One of the books cover had a woman on it with a third eye, the eye was possibly triangle shaped. I’m not sure I remember the plot line of that book if there was more than one book. The plot-line I do remember though went as follows: A girl (and possibly her family) moves to a farm/rural setting. While out walking one day she runs into an invisible wall. Somehow she, and possibly a boy (or her family) get through the wall, and there is a hidden city behind it, possibly made out of crystal. The people in the city are either alien in nature, or are people with powers, and those powers and possibly telekinesis and/or telepathy. I think she has to figure out how to escape from this city. I’m hoping someone knows what these books are.

211C: YA mystery series (Solved)

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I’m attempting to find two YA novels (may be part of a longer series) featuring best friends Kim (tall, thin, blonde) & Alexa (name may not be exact; small, brunette), 13-15yo, amateur detectives. One book features them at riding camp, investigating twin sisters who may be planning to kill male counselor who impregnated one sister. In one scene, they hike through a cave with stalactites and stalagmites. The other book features a mysterious death at a neighbor’s house where college/20-smtg friends of neighbor’s child(ren) are staying; they are involved in drugs and may have faked friend’s death by drowning him/her in swimming pool. I seem to recall the author had a woman’s name. The last I saw these books was in my secondary school library in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I would guess they were published in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Any help appreciated!

208D: a sort of Little House on the Prairie-light set

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The book I’m looking for was actually a series of Juvenile books I read in the mid 1980’s. I remember 4 or 5 of them. They were a sort of Little House on the Prairie-light. Set in mid western prairie state, but in a town. During or around a big influenza epidemic. The publisher may have been a Christian publishing house. The protagnist was a red head, who was 10-12ish, prone to eavesdropping and misunderstanding. There was a sort of mystery to be solved in each book by the children, that was always just a misunderstanding. One of the books revolved around Valentine’s Day. Can’t for the life of me remember the name or the author, nor can the friends who read them with me at the time.
They were short trade papers, with illustrations on a few pages, but not “illustrated.”
Don’t know if that is even remotely enough helpful information to track them down 🙂