Category Archives: Solved

316Y: Young Girl Discovers Mysterious Daguerreotype (Solved!)

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I'm trying to think of this children's book I read in middle school, so sometime between 1990-1993. Probably a classic bildungsroman with a twist of a mystery. This would've been a "chapter book" more along the lines of Up a Road Slowly, and possibly set in the Midwest. I have always felt it was a Midwest/Plains state, and my feeling is that it was set sometime prior to WWII—maybe the '30s? Though I could see it being more of a setting in the Northeast, too. Almost definitely the United States, though I could see it be a surprise Canada.

I feel that it was a standalone book. I’m truly unsure about the cover. I want to say maybe there was a house on the cover in the distance, or something, but I honestly am not certain. There are no illustrations in this book that I can recall. This is for a *slightly* older audience.

The gist of the plot, or some portion of it as I remember it, is about the main character, a young girl between the ages of 11 or 12… broader, at most, would be 10-13. She’s not an orphan as far as I know. I don’t recall her having siblings, but I’m not sure enough about that one. I don’t recall her parents either, but I don’t feel that she was totally without one or both.

This girl visits a man who lives in a cabin at various times throughout the story. He lives nearbyish and as she is exploring the area over this time period, she heads to his cabin. He definitely lives alone, and the place is sparsely decorated. This is not their first meeting, either. They know each other—either through being related or nearly so. She doesn’t stay with the person she visits—she has her own home.

While in the cabin, during an early visit, she finds or is given a jewelry-box type container and inside is a daguerreotype. The box containing the daguerreotype is on a bookshelf, perhaps built-in, and is of someone she knows or to whom she is related—like a grandmother. I don’t think she quite had permission to take it down and look in the box, but the man was only a little agitated when he catches her with it. I seem to remember the person in the daguerreotype was a woman (possibly related to the MC, but I’m pretty sure related to the man in the cabin), and for some reason (I hesitate even to say this) I think she was a horsewoman in a circus-type show. I feel like he loved this woman, and not necessarily that they were married.

My memory is ludicrously sketchy on this, but I think there’s a boy featured as her friend. The boy would’ve been the same age. I feel like there is a scene (possibly the ending) where the MC is waiting in a tree or by a tree on the road to school, and this male friend of hers walks by and she feels better about this whole “growing up” thing…

Pretty sure it takes place right when school starts back, and maybe she writes a paper about the information or person related to the daguerreotype. I’m not sure of that either, but I am sure that she and her male friend investigate more about the guy in the cabin or the person in the picture. She does some research of some kind and learns more about them and, presumably, discovers the identity of the featured person in the tintype.

If I remember correctly, the book might’ve been an older one, and the spelling of ‘daguerreotype’ was a little off from what I had in my dictionary/encyclopedia. Maybe ‘daguerretype’—being more on par with simply Louis Daguerre’s last name. I remember in my AG Reading class we had to choose a previously unknown vocabulary word from our weekly reading and bring it in and define it for the class. I distinctly remember being excited about this word (which is why I feel the alternate amalgamation of Daguerre’s name with the -type suffix was used in this book (or in my dictionary)), and bringing it in.  I cannot be sure, since I can’t actually remember this book, but I feel that those terms, Daguerreotype and tintype, were used interchangeably (however incorrect that makes it). I assume it was less about describing or defining the process, and just using handy, broad terms.

I am certain of the daguerreotype being featured prominently in the story, because that’s the first I’d heard of them and I remember reading more about them myself in my World Book Encyclopedia (ah, remember those days). In looking for this book, I cannot seem to get away from books that are either nonfiction books specifically about daguerreotypes or the history of photography, or fictional books that are looking to teach through a story about this early form of photography. Which is further underscored by the fact that that is the exact word that sticks in my head about the book, and the point of the plot of which I am certain. The daguerreotype itself isn’t the main focus of the story, only the catalyst that sets this into motion.

(I think the recollection of that word might be my downfall.)

I think there’s something to do with Native Americans – and a tree that signifies something of importance. I hesitate so much to say this, because like the keyword “daguerreotype,” this one sets you on a specific and limiting search course, but … I feel as if the title was structured like an indication of a passing of time by the way some Native Americans marked time/distance to travel—as in “moons” or the like. But I have never been sure if that memory was associated with *this* book or another I read around the same time.

In that vein, I have tried both Two Moons in August and Walk Two Moons with no success—though the setting/time period for both was way off of what I remembered.

This book is not:
Up a Road Slowly
The Silver Coach
The Keepsake Chest
Return to Gone-Away
Two Moons in August
Walk Two Moons
Peachtree Island
The Long White Month
Kate and the Family Tree
West Against The Wind
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years
Edward’s Portrait

Thanks very much for any and all help.

316F: Two sisters go to the rocksy-tocksy-wocksies (Solved)

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I’m looking for this children’s book about two sisters. Big sister must take little sister out to play while mom is busy in the kitchen.  Little sister sings “We’re going to the rocksy-tocksy-wocksies” as they head to the shore to play on the rocks. Little sister slips and falls but big sister rescues her. My daughter checked this book out of the elementary school library around 1989-1992, but it had been published well before that. Thank you.

315A: Secret of Stonehedge (or The Secret of Stonehedge) (Solved)

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The story is about a teenage girl who doesn’t remember her past.  She moves to a new town with her parents.  They live in a big house with a hedge around it.   There is a mystery involved with the house.  I don’t remember the events in the story, but somehow her life is in danger and I think she starts remembering things from her past and possibly the house.  Her parents might not actually be her parents.  At the end, someone to kill her at the house where she is alone because whatever she is starting to remember will expose what they have done.  She finally remembers everything during the fight? for her life.  I read this book probably in the late 60’s early 70’s.

314O: Silver Blonde Cousins (Solved)

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It’s a mystery/thriller, with some paranormal overtones. I was born in ’66 and I believe I’d read it by the time I entered high school in ’80, so it must have been written sometime before then. Possibly way before then, as I recall the book was a beat-up paperback when I picked it up.

It’s about a set of female cousins. One is dramatically beautiful, outgoing and rich, and kind of mean; she dies (I think before the book’s action begins) and leaves her estate to her cousin, who bears a certain resemblance to her but is kind and introverted. The good cousin moves into the house and begins thinking her dead cousin was murdered, I think? She also starts behaving oddly – more like the dead cousin. She dyes her hair to match the dead cousin. I vaguely recall a reference to “silver blonde” or something like that.

There’s a love interest for the cousin – I want to say he’s a lawyer? And that he also had some kind of relationship with the dead cousin? Maybe?

I think the dead cousin’s name is Cathy or Kathy, or maybe it’s the surviving cousin’s name? I don’t remember how the book develops the ghost angle – whether the ghost is real or just the cousin’s imagination – but I’m pretty sure it turns out she was murdered.

There’s a supporting character who’s a friend of the living cousin. I remember she shows up at one point and is described as an earth mother type, I think, and says something about the coffee she’s offered – like “heavens, yes, keep it coming” or maybe “I like my coffee like I like my men” but I could be wrong on that.

God I hope that’s enough because it’s driving me nuts, and I can’t find it, and this is all I recall.

314G: Duck Looking for Water (Solved)

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The book I am trying to find is about a little duck that is looking for water but there is no rain so he finds a truck that is spilling water out of the back to follow. My father-in-law had this book as a child in the 1950’s and passed it to my husband but it is now lost. They don’t remember a title or even possible words, they do recall it having wonderful pictures and illustrations. Any help is appreciated!

314D: Encyclopedia Brown without Mysteries (Solved)

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I have strong memories of reading a chapter book in my grade school library where Encyclopedia Brown (or maybe another boy genius) plays harmless pranks on this hometown with the cooperation of the other kids. I remember it as a special edition of Encyclopedia Brown outside of the series where he solves mysteries.

In one story, the kids take all of their change from purchases as pennies for a few weeks, building up a huge stockpile of pennies — and then on a predetermined day, they go on a spending spree all over town making payment with pennies, leading to overflowing cash registers and befuddled clerks. In another story, the kids

In another story, the boy genius bets a friend that he can fool the whole town into believing that an imaginary person exists, and manages to get a library card and open a bank account in that fictional person’s name. He also describes the appearance of that person enough times that he convinces a whole crowd that they have seen him. He eventually reveals his duplicity and everyone is shocked to learn that they were fooled.

I have done hundreds of keyword searches on Google to track down this book, and have completely failed. I hope you can help me!

313U: Visit to Aunt Rachel (Solved)

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The book I’m trying to find is from the 70s. The protagonist is a teenage girl visiting her elderly Aunt Rachel for the summer, I think. There’s a handsome man who’s a caretaker, I think, named Ewain? Ewan? In any case, it turns out that he’s hundreds of years old, and he’s really Merlin, and the aunt has some sort of charm that keeps him under her power. He has to do her bidding, and that keeps her young. I think they kidnap a young girl every 20 years or so and all of Aunt Rachel’s physical problems and aging gets transferred to the girl. And the protagonist is next in line. But I think Merlin saves her. Jeez, I read this about 35 years ago, over and over again! I’d love to find out what book it was!

313S: Missing Clock Tower Automatons (Solved)

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A girl goes on dangerous magical quest to find missing clock tower automatons. I read this book sometime in the mid-1970s. It may have been published from the 1950s-1970s. Statues or automatons have disappeared from the town cathedral or clock tower (I lean toward the clock) and if they are not restored by midnight (?) on a certain day, chaos will ensue. There is a European city feel to the magical yet current-day setting. Toward the very end, some adults are talking, “I’m letting her sleep. ” There is a sense that she has done things which were not quite lawful but she is excused because of her accomplishment. The adults may be a mother and aunt, or maybe aunts only.