Seeking late ’80s or early ’90 Young Adult book. A teenage vigilante watches out for a neighbor girl from a tree. The neighbor girl is in distress because of family/school bullies.
Any help is appreciated,
338C: Teenage Vigilante
1 Reply
Category Archives: Status
338B: “If Pigs Could Fly”
I am searching for a book from my childhood. I believe it is titled “If Pigs Could Fly”, but may be titled “When Pigs Fly”. It may have been a collection of stories or poems. The most memorable thing about the book were the illustrations. Intricate, stunning, and enchanting illustrations … almost magical. On the cover, there is some sort of kingdom – maybe a castle in the background. A young girl is riding a pig through the air, but she is only a small part of the cover illustration.
My Inside Self, which I believe is a poem by Rachel Field, is one of the poems I recall. The illustration is of a little girl, short and portly, standing in front of her mirror dressed as a ballerina. In her reflection in the mirror she sees a gorgeous, thin, delicate adult ballerina.
My mom thinks a British friend of hers gave us the book, so it’s possible it was a published in the UK (but not certain).
I would guess this book was published between 1987-1995.
I have searched many, many databases and haven’t had luck. There are many other books with this title. One even has “funny poems for kids”… the one I’m looking for was more about dreaming big and reaching for the stars — I think!
338A: The Mystery of the Missing Twin (or maybe sister)
This is a kids mystery book, probably written in the early 70s. The author’s last name was at the end of the alphabet–Mayba a W.
Two sisters–I think twins, but they may be triplets, where two are identical and the third isn’t. The girls are on vacation in either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. They run into another girl who looks exactly like one (or two) of them. the non-identical sister is convinced she’s adopted, and that the girl they saw is the actual twin (or triplet) of the others. They try to find the girl again, but she’s been kidnapped.
There’s a whole mystery involving caves and some missing jewelry? The parents are kind of cagey about why they’re In Canada, so they’re not a lot of help, although they are present. They’re at a lawyers office quite often, giving the girls unsupervised time. They use the resemblance between the kidnapped girl and the sister to trap the crooks somehow, with the fathers involvement.
At the end, it’s revealed that the kidnapped girl is their cousin, which is why she looks like them. I think the parents were trying to arrange to adopt her.
I’ve been trying to remember this for awhile, but can’t. Googling just brings up a lot of results, which aren’t helpful.
Thanks for any help!
337Z: Robot Turns Into Spaceship (Solved!)
Looking for a book where a toy robot turns into a spaceship and takes a little boy to outer space. Published some time in the early to mid 80s, I believe.
337Y: During WWI, Grumpy Old Man Befriends Teen Girl (Solved!)
So the book is set in America in WWI around 1918 during the flu epidemic. I want to say Philadelphia or New York. The main character is a female teen or preteen. Prior to being sent to the country to escape the flu, there was a scene with the mother’s favorite tea cup boiled in milk to repair a break.
The girl is sent to live with an older man in the country. She gets sick and he has her shining vinegar as a curative. After she’s well, they collect peach pits for gas masks, knit scarves and socks for soldiers, sew gauze masks, etc for the war effort. The old man also fries fresh donuts as a treat for him and the girl.
I know they eventually become great friends, although she thought he was scary and grumpy at first meeting.
337X: Brother Who Grows Pot and Sister Who Works As Barista
This book appears to be written by an ex-boyfriend and girlfriend who agree to write alternating chapters. The book includes their email conversations as they struggle over where the plot will go and rehash relationship mishaps. It is very funny. The mystery plot involves a brother and sister who live in a rural area. He grows pot illegally and she works as a barista….
337W: Scared Ghost Loses His Candy
I had this book back around kindergarten and now I’m a senior. I remember it was a block book, (I could be wrong, however) it was small, and it was a Halloween book. Sadly, the only piece of plot I remember is that the ghost ate candy, and then when it got scared, the candy fell out of him. I hope this helps!!
337V: Society that enjoys watercress sandwiches (Solved!)
I read this book in six grade in the mid-80s. I think it was a fantasy type story. This society had once been in contact with humans (or maybe just one human). He may have come over the mountains on a hot air balloon.
They got a few things confused about humans. For example, they had a painting of a tree and a diagram of a family tree (genealogy chart). They called the genealogy chart a picture and the painting of the tree a family tree. So everyone in this society had a very carefully tended “family tree” in their yard. Unfortunately, I remember nothing about the actual plot.
337U: Young cat fights the ocean (Solved!)
A tiger or lion cub fights the ocean and makes it retreat, but it was only the tide going out. This might be a folktale or fable in a child's anthology or scholastic services book circa 1965-69. Young protagonist may have had elevated opinion of self.
337T: Girl Starves Herself Trying To Feed Dead Brother
I randomly remembered a book I read probably a few years ago now. I only remember a few oddly specific things.
For starters, this main girl had a brother and she would bring food out to their yard to him and that is just always where they met up. By a tree, I think. Then later we find out that the brother is actually dead and she has been imagining this all. And the food she was giving him in like these sandwich bags is her food and she wasn’t eating. So she sort of accidentally starved herself. And I think at a point near the end, the parents see all of the sandwich bags full of food out by the tree and sort of realize what has been going on.
That is all I can remember, I hope you can help!!