Category Archives: Status

313A: Christmas Cat (Solved)

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The book was older, around in the 80’s/90’s, maybe older than that. It was a children’s Christmas Story of an old man who lived alone. He was known as a grumpy old man. A strange cat came to visit him everyday before Christmas and everyday he would angrily make the cat leave. On the final day (Christmas maybe?) something happened  (a memory of a loved one or something?) he was overjoyed with the cat for some reason and he let him stay. The story ended with him loving the cat and it being the best gift he had ever received. The title seems like it was “Mr. Mcdoogal’s Best Christmas Ever” or something similar. I feel strongly that the old man went by Mr. Something that starts with an “m”. The central theme was how angry/grumpy the lonely old man was and how his anger grew everyday the cat showed up until something changed and he loved the cat suddenly. Maybe the cat stopped coming for a while and it made him realize how he had grown fond of the cats visits and he was overjoyed when he returned?

312Z: Vintage Gothic Romance about Dancer

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The girl is accepted to study under a master dancer. While at his house she meets the local doctor. The house is on top of the cliff. There are stairs leading up the cliff to the house. At the end of the book, the teacher makes her dance near the stairs and she cuts her leap short to keep from falling down the stairs. She looks up to see the doctor there and realizes that he has come to save her. The dancing master was trying to kill her. I think the word stairs or steps is in the title. I first read the book in the early 1970s.

312Y: Teens Runaway into the Woods

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This is a dark teen novel. I read it in about 2007 and I think it was recently published. I believe the cover of the book was white (kind of a woodsy / snowy feel) with the title in black text.

The story was a very sad one.Three teens (the older two were a couple and there was a younger boy, who was the narrator) ran away and were homeless, living for at least part of the book in the woods (in some makeshift space — I believe an old van). They were cold and hungry and the girl got sick first. I believe she had sores or something on her body. In one tragic scene in particular, she’s asking the older boy (her boyfriend) to have sex with her and the narrator says the older boy did it because he really loved her. Eventually, of course, the girl died and I believe the older boy died as well a little later on.

As I said the younger boy was the narrator and there was a lot of dialect used. Apostrophes and such (“you want somethin’?”) which added a lot of character to the narration.

I believe it got good reviews / accolades, but was very sad and dark. You really saw how kids could fall through the cracks in the system and how terrible it was for kids trying to make their own way without assets or support.

312V: Series on Playing, Gardening, etc.

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My sister and I have been looking for this book series from our childhood for close to 10 years now…ever since they were lost in a flood at our mother’s house.

These were hardcover books on various subjects titled things such as Playing, Gardening, Collecting, and Cooking. Each book was a different solid color with a circular picture on the front. The artwork in the books was by various artists and the writing was instructional in nature. For instance, the Playing book would have various games divided into chapters for things such as group games, team games, games for rainy days, etc

I say they are from the 70’s but I’m really not sure. From what I remember some of the artwork was very reminiscent of the style in Per Holm Knudsen’s How Baby is Made while others remind me of the artwork of Mad Magazine’s Mort Drucker. This, of course, is coming from my memories as a young child…so I could be way off on those comparisons.

One additional thing is that while watching a video yesterday, I spotted this in the background which appears to be one of the books. I’m not 100% on that, but I figured it was worth including here.

312U: Red Ring, Right hand

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This book was read to me in the mid/late 1990s, in Ohio. I believe it had a yellow cover. The girl was struggling with learning her right and left hand. She was in a parade (or maybe marching band?) and turned the wrong way from the rest of the group, and I think marched alone for a while. In order to remember it for the next time, someone gave her a red ring to wear on her right hand. Then she marched with the group the next time without issue.

312T: Adventures at Grandma’s

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This book was published between 1980 and 1985 and has beautiful illustrations.The girl visits her grandma or aunt and looks in her attic at a phonograph and old stuff. She chases a frog through the rain and puddles with a neighbor boy she befriends. Also, I think she goes sledding or ice skating, and then takes a warm bath. So I guess she’s staying with her grandma for a long time – maybe a year. You see her experiences through the seasons.

 

312R: Ice Skating at Home

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I am trying to remember the name of a book published by scholastic probably between 1995 – 1998. The book is about a girl whose house fills up with water and she is paddling through the water on her bed. She decides to go to the fridge and opens the fridge door so she can freeze the water. She then ends up skating through the house on the frozen water.