Category Archives: Unsolved

338A: The Mystery of the Missing Twin (or maybe sister)

This is a kids mystery book, probably written in the early 70s.  The author’s last name was at the end of the alphabet–Mayba a W.  
Two sisters–I think twins, but they may be triplets, where two are identical and the third isn’t.  The girls are on vacation in either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia.  They run into another girl who looks exactly like one (or two) of them.  the non-identical sister is convinced she’s adopted, and that the girl they saw is the actual twin (or triplet) of the others.  They try to find the girl again, but she’s been kidnapped.  
 
There’s a whole mystery involving caves and some missing jewelry? The parents are kind of cagey about why they’re In Canada, so they’re not a lot of help, although they are present. They’re at a lawyers office quite often, giving the girls unsupervised time.  They use the resemblance between the kidnapped girl and the sister to trap the crooks somehow, with the fathers involvement.

 
At the end, it’s revealed that the kidnapped girl is their cousin, which is why she looks like them. I think the parents were trying to arrange to adopt her.
 
I’ve been trying to remember this for awhile, but can’t.  Googling just brings up a lot of results, which aren’t helpful.
 
Thanks for any help!

 

337X: Brother Who Grows Pot and Sister Who Works As Barista

This book appears to be written by an ex-boyfriend and girlfriend who agree to write alternating chapters. The book includes their email conversations as they struggle over where the plot will go and rehash relationship mishaps.  It is very funny.  The mystery plot involves a brother and sister who live in a rural area.  He grows pot illegally and she works as a barista….

337W: Scared Ghost Loses His Candy

I had this book back around kindergarten and now I’m a senior. I remember it was a block book, (I could be wrong, however) it was small, and it was a Halloween book. Sadly, the only piece of plot I remember is that the ghost ate candy, and then when it got scared, the candy fell out of him. I hope this helps!!

337T: Girl Starves Herself Trying To Feed Dead Brother

I randomly remembered a book I read probably a few years ago now. I only remember a few oddly specific things.

For starters, this main girl had a brother and she would bring food out to their yard to him and that is just always where they met up. By a tree, I think. Then later we find out that the brother is actually dead and she has been imagining this all. And the food she was giving him in like these sandwich bags is her food and she wasn’t eating. So she sort of accidentally starved herself. And I think at a point near the end, the parents see all of the sandwich bags full of food out by the tree and sort of realize what has been going on.

That is all I can remember, I hope you can help!!

337R: Children’s European Story Collection

Hello! I am looking for a storybook collection that I had in the 1980’s.

This book had a number of stories in it that seemed European based. I believe the first story was of a little boy whose mother made him green dungarees with a plane on them that he loved. He accidentally tore them on a fence and was very sad until his mother patched it with a star instead of a plane.
Another story was from Denmark about a boy whose father was a fisherman. The pictures in this one were monochromatic (rust colored.) The picture was of the boy standing close to the sea and possible the famous mermaid statue.
Another story was of a mother hedgehog. I believe it had a picture of a hedgehog in an egg cup.
I believe the back cover of the book was blue.
This book was read to me every night and it was my favorite. I would be so happy to finally find it again!

337Q: Hearts and Flowers

I am looking for a 1920’s-30s romance, where the heroine earns her living being a professional letter writer, and she begins a correspondence with a young man (invalid/injured?) using the persona of an elderly motherly woman.  The only other detail that I can recall is she sent the young man some women’s hats and requested that he choose the one he liked for her.

337O: Children Stories About Science

I remember two stories, and I believe they may be from the same book.  One story is of some kids that get “hired” by a local scrap metal company to figure out how to crack open metal cannonballs.  They first try burying it in the snow, but find that the snow acts as an insulator, preventing the cannonball from getting cold enough to crack.  The kids then re-try by leaving the cannonball in the open (at least that’s what I remember), at which point the metal is cold enough to crack.
The other story also involves children, this time on a beach.  They collect up seawater, rig up a distilling system, and then boil the water to make steam.  The steam is collected up as drinkable water.
Thanks in advance!

337M: Girl Escapes Dystopian World Through Sewer To Find Mother

In the mid- 90s we had a college student come to my class for a project on the impact of sci-fi/fantasy novels on kids.  We had a selection of books to choose from, like “Girl with the Silver Eyes” and the Tripod trilogy.  There was one I started, but had to give back the next day as the project ended earlier for some reason.
I think the title had something to do with “moon” or had the word “moon” in it.  It started with a girl escaping a city through the sewer (I think she lived there with extended family?) to go find her mother.  I think it was kind-of in the dystopian genre.  The mom was presumed dead, or shunned from society in some way.