Read a story in the late 60s early 70s about alien lifeforms that were spheres. Two of them would merge into a third “super” sphere. The story was about one that wished he could meet this particular super sphere without realizing it was half of its creation.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
The book I’m looking for was stories for older aged kids than the grade school library I found it in (our librarian wanted to encourage us). The book had a red hardcover, about 16″ x 8″ and was about 2″ thick. It had an illustration from the first story, I think, on the cover. The only story I remember the title for is The Twelve Princesses. It had stories from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and probably more. When us grade schoolers got on the bus with it the older kids tried to borrow it! It was quite a read and some bits of the story lines were, the stairs to heaven with a trapdoor on one of the ends (Japanese), and the man who escaped a pond/water which he had to pass by putting a shell to his ear which had been filled with a love song by his beloved (Malaysia, I think). I wish I had more specifics.
I’m haunted by a (probably YA) time travel book I read in the mid 70s. I believe it takes place in England, where relatives are visiting (maybe from America?) their professor/scientist Uncle (?) who has produced a time travel potion. I think one of its main ingredients is monkey brains, but I’m not 100% sure. The serum allows the imbiber to travel back to Middle Age Britain, not sure if it’s as an active participant or as a fly-on-the-wall. Whichever character it is that starts taking trips, soon gets caught up in the people and events of that past. He becomes addicted to it. The danger is that his body stays more-or-less in present day geographically, so when he comes out of the trip he may be standing in the middle of a super highway or some such that wasn’t there hundreds of years ago. I don’t remember the resolution. I just remember loving the imagery and concept. Anybody?
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?