Category Archives: Solved

327A: Collection of scary stories from the late 70s or early 80s (Solved!)

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I'm trying to track down a collection of short, scary stories that I read when I was young. I remember a story about a girl with a red cape (I believe her name was Lottie). There was also a story in the book about Sarah Winchester, the heir to the Winchester rifle fortune who continued building a mansion and never stopped construction because a medium told her she'd die if she stopped. I know it's a long shot, but I'd love to be able to find this book again.

326V: Kittens, Kittens, Everywhere (Solved!)

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A family advertises for a kitten, people from everywhere bring them kittens, then they have too many so they give them away.  The children are then sad because they gave all the kittens away when one appears from behind a stove, I think.  Probably from the 60’s, Small book that I would of bought myself at a dime store.  I think it had a black and white kitten on the front.

326T: 1950’s young detective gang? (Solved!)

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I was in elementary school in the early 90’s and remember reading a series of novel/short stories in class from a book series. They were similar to Encyclopedia Brown and Nate the Great, but the time frame of the books was more low tech (they had flashlights or torches I think, but don’t remember TV ever being mentioned), probably circa 1930’s to 1950’s so a little before Encyclopedia Brown time frame.

I remember 3 distinct stories that happened. The main characters were young, elementary school aged, and engaged in small town mysteries and adventures. One of the stories involved one person from this young gang following someone or something into a local cave and the main character followed them/him but tied raw liver meat to his shoes and told a friend if he didn’t come out to get a police officer and a tracking dog to find him from the scent of the liver meat on his shoes. They ended up finding him and the person lost in the cave.

A second story involved a new teacher the main character didn’t like and he intended to frame him by making him appear to be an alcoholic and planting alcohol in his house. The plot may be located in a baptist southern town as the main character thought the alcohol conviction would be a death sentence for the guy. I don’t remember much of the rest of that specific plot except that Mint Schnapps were part of the story and how the teacher was purportedly covering up his alcohol breath. The teacher found him out and apologized to the kid that he did not like him being his teacher but the town had appointed him, the protagonist reconciled with him eventually.

A third minor story was the protagonist forgot to study for an exam and tried to contract mumps from a friend of his who was out sick that same week. He snuck over to his friends house and asked him to breath in his face repeatedly. The protagonist was young, coming of age, used m’am and pal a lot in his vocabulary. The book or series may have been published in the 70’s or 80’s but I don’t remember a whole lot of technology being used in the stories though, and the prohibition aspect lead me to believe it is older. It could be Encyclopedia Brown but I’ve read through what I believe to be all of the book plots and didn’t see it.

326S: Book about a disabled girl who laughed but didn’t talk (Solved!)

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I read this book in the late 70’s or early 80s. It popped into my head today; I don’t know why, and now I feel driven to reread it, but again, I don’t know why. The cover was an outdoor scene — a grassy field with some blurred figures, hard to make out. The novel was about a girl who lived in a hospital or an institution. She was physically disabled (wheelchair) and also did not talk. However, she did laugh at least once, and it seemed that she may have had a sense of irony that others didn’t recognize. The point of view was, I think, from her brother, who was visiting her. There was something disturbing about the story, but I can’t remember what it was. The only other thing I remember is that she had a unique name. This may also have been the name of the book. It had a T and an I in it – Tig? Twig? Twich? THANK YOU!

 

326Q: Boarding School Girls Discuss Castle Drachenfels (Solved!)

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I read it in the 1970s.  It was written for girls, maybe came in two volumes, the copies at the library had stripes on the covers.  Came from the Beverly Hills Public Library, if that is helpful.

I think it took place in a girls’ boarding school.  Maybe there was one girl called Cordelia, shortened to Cordy.  Maybe in it they told a story about a Castle Drachenfels.  It’s possible I’m mixing this up with another book, but maybe not.

Please help!  Thanks!

326G: Kid’s Bad Day Is Remade Into Better Day (Solved!)

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I’m looking for a book that is about a bad day, but *not* Alexander’s. The book I remember has a main character who is school-aged. The character wakes up late, puts too much sugar on his/her morning breakfast (after the mother warned him/her not to), and ends up wearing slippers to school. The kid decides to reset the day by going home at lunchtime and starting the day over. Puts the right amount of sugar on breakfast, wears the right clothes to school, and has a better day.

326B: Warmth Of Friendship In A Smooth Stone (Solved!)

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I am hoping you can help me find a book I remember from my childhood (probably 40 years ago).  The book was about a young girl who lived in an apartment (I believe) and was very lonely.  Another young girl moved in and they became best friends.  One of the girls found out her family was moving and she was very sad and worried about making a new friend.  The first girl gave her a smooth stone and told her when she was lonely to hold the smooth stone and she would feel the warmth of their friendship.
At least this is how my memory recalls the story. LOL!


If I recall correctly the cover had a light blue background and the girls were sitting on the steps of the apartment building.
I have tried to Google search this to no avail.


I am assuming that this book may no longer be in print.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

325X: Boy Uses Imagination To Scale Impossible Wall (Solved!)

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I’m trying to locate a book I read as a child but which don’t remember the title of. The story was about a child (a boy, I think) who needed or was challenged to jump over a high wall (maybe a castle wall). The wall seemed impossibly high to climb. However, there was a pile of boxes/crates nearby so the child used his/her imagination and began stacking the boxes one-by-one to effectively form a staircase that could be used to scale the wall. 

I’d appreciate any information you can provide about this book/story.

325L: Ringmaster is a balloon who inflates himself! (Solved!)

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This children’s picture book was always hanging around our vacation home, and in the mid-fifties it looked old, so I guess it was from the late thirties or forties. Definitely not after mid-fifties.  It was a book about a balloon ringmaster who blew on his toe and inflated himself and then I believe he inflated the rest of the circus.  It had some color in the pictures, I think, not many pages, hardbound.  The ringmaster was round body, round head as you can imagine.  Any ideas?