British kids play at the War of the Roses. They seem to have no restrictions. I was an oldish kids’ library book in 1955. (What today they call a chapter book, or YA.)
294J: Roseswar (Solved)
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Category Archives: Solved
294F: Magic Marbles (Solved!)
This was a YA book that I read back in the 1960s or 70s about a girl who wanted a forever home. It might have been set in England. She had marbles, or maybe just one marble, that she thought carried power. At the end of the book, the marble rolled under the front porch of her new home and she decided that meant that they were there to stay.
293S: Children’s march/walk to Washington (Solved)
This was a young adult novel about a group of children who are compelled to walk from New England to D. C. as a form of protest (maybe echoes of nuclear war?). One of the kids is, I think, the granddaughter of the president but keeps that a secret. As the march continues, more children join in. There’s some sort of mystical element. I read the book in the mid-1980s.
293R: Book about a madcap journey through the U.S. south (Solved)
What I remember: I read it before Borders bookstores closed. I picked it up in paperback on a display that said this type of book was not the author’s usual style. It was long.
Plot: a guy in the south (maybe Georgia?) thinks he kills his secretary and rolls her in the rug and takes the rug to the dump. The reader has the idea she’s alive, but the hero goes on the lamb in a convertible — I think eventually ending up at his dad’s house.
I also remember at scene where he accidentally sees the neighbor’s wife in a revealing outfit and it causes a family rift. There is a teenager daughter. Maybe he works at a furniture store? I would call it a archetype = hero’s journey
Thanks for any help!!
293P: Everyone floats away on a river of pasta (Solved!)
I would have read this book in the mid to late 1970s and I am pretty sure it was published around then. It was about a woman who owned a diner, but she was a terrible cook. Her customers all complained about the horrible food — I remember one diner saying, “This tastes like a burnt tire!” Somehow she finds (traps? meets?) a genie who promises to help her. He makes delicious spaghetti and meatballs that everyone loves, but the magic he used to make it goes out of control and fills the diner with spaghetti and meatballs until everyone floats away on a river of pasta. I seem to recall that the illustrations were primarily in black and white with splashes of color. The drawing style was sort of crude and comical — heavy, rough lines and the faces of the characters were somewhat grotesque. The main character’s name could be Frieda? Possibly. Also, this is definitely not Strega Nona which has a similar magical spaghetti pot.
293L: Teenager Horror Anthology Containing Invisible, Evil, Witch-Succubus (Solved)
Young Adult Horror Anthology
Paperback about 5 in. x 7 in. x .25 to .50 in. thick
Read between 1989-1993
The book included multiple legends, such as a traditional re-telling of the Warsaw Golem and the Wendigo. I would guess it was written in the 80’s because it already had creases and tape on the spine when I read the book. The cover contained a boy sitting in a chair, whose hair was standing up on end, with a monster behind him; reading a book with the exact same cover, which had the exact cover, etc. I remember it being similar to Bruce Coville and Beverly Cleary and R.L. Stine books, though I think this book was written prior to Stine. It is not any of the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series.
The main story I remember is set in a western town, possibly a cowboy/farmer town. It centers around a young boy who is mistreated by his older brother. They both work as farmhands and the older brother fall asleep under a tree. The young boy sees this baboon-looking creature with long hair sneak up behind the brother and attack the brother.
This baboon creature, who I remember as a witch with long hair and red skin for some reason, rides on the brother’s back and sucks his life force out. When the younger brother tries to help, the witch sinks her claws deeper into the brother’s back. No one notices this creature but the young boy I think.
Eventually, the brother gives up and commits suicide by throwing himself over a cliff. The boy looks down as the witch lets go of the brother. She looks up at the younger brother and starts to climb up the cliff’s side as she tells him to wait because she is coming for him.
Any ideas?
293K: Poetic forms across the globe A- Z (Solved)
I am looking for a book that, of course, I lent to someone and never saw again. It was an alphabetic listing of poetic forms drawing from cultures all around the planet. I really need the book for a writing group I do with children.
Any ideas?
Thanks so much.
293J: Domination of other by using weakness as a status symbol (Solved)
Science fiction short story where one planet maintains control of another by elevating some people to power on the subject planet. These elevated people have hereditary obsessive compulsive disorder which sets them apart from the common people and also disables them from actually leading their people who are then subjected to producing for the benefit of the alien overlords. The main character’s obsession is to follow a wood grain pattern. It takes her all day and she is exhausted from it. Somehow she meets a commoner and discovers that she might live a different life. I’ve tried very hard to find the story but no luck so far.
292Z: SOLOMON SHAG (Solved)
A children’s story book in rhyme about a yellow dog named Solomon Shag. I seem to remember cobblestone streets and cars in some illustrations which makes me think it may have been a European city like London.
292U: Mr. Down Stomps the Keystone (Solved)
A children’s book from the 1970s or earlier. I am not sure of the title but it might be ‘Mr. Down’ or include the words ‘Mr. Down’. The setting is possibly medieval England. Townspeople are trying to build churches to pray in but every time they complete one, Mr. Down (a little troll-like guy or gremlin type character) comes in the night to stomp on the roof and destroy the church. They go through several designs all of which Mr. Down stomps on until they finally design an arch with a ‘keystone’ at the top. This is a classic Gothic style arch and no matter how much Mr. Down stomps, it will not collapse. I used to check this book out of a small Methodist church library in North Carolina every single summer of my childhood. It would mean the WORLD to me to find this book again.