Category Archives: Teen

301G: Your typical high school romance

I read this book in the early 1970s, I’m assuming it came from the 1960s. I don’t know the name of the book nor the publisher. But it was your typical high school romance of the time, where the popular boy in school falls for the less popular girl and her name was Beth.

Obviously the book resonated with me  at the time because my name is Beth I would have read it around the age of 10 to 13.  I always wondered if I could find the book and reread it is an adult what would I think of it.

299S: Mystery du Lac (Solved!)

For the life of me I cannot remember the title of the book or the author. It was from the late 80’s or early 90s and was a mystery with teenaged characters. There was a girl sent to spend the summer with her aunt and a selfish cousin. I think a few years pass after the cousin’s death and there is a reunion and all of these odd things start happening. It was on a lake and had a French name like Fond du Lac or Chance du Lac. It might have been on the Wisconsin/Canada border. There was a romance element to it and the heroine was meant to feel like she could trust no one.

299E: Pre-Revolutionary War historical fiction trilogy read in the early 1970s

As I remember this trilogy it starts shortly before  the French and Indian War and follows the generations of the family through the war of 1812.  I think the main character in the first book is named Adam.  The family owns a farm.  A key scene I remember is when someone is dying of a fever and their family member takes pity on them and gives them water to comfort them even though it is strictly against the doctor’s orders– the medical practice being so wrong really made an impression on me.  I took these three books out of the Park Ridge, IL public library when I was in junior high and read them several times.   I think they were written in the early sixties but it could be earlier.  There are a lot of descriptions of colonial life and the generational tensions about fighting in wars.  They were longer and more advanced reading than Johnny Tremain.

299B: Abandoned Gothic Mansion Mystery (Solved)

I read this book late 90’s / early 2000’s (1998-2002), but the book could have been written any time in the 90’s.  I know it was a mystery book aimed at 10-15 year olds, the main character was a boy who was about 13.  (there may have been a female character too)  The boy explores / investigates this abandoned gothic mansion, coming across clues as he does so.  One of the clues is the word “Boss Stone” which eventually he realizes is the architecture term (“knob or protrusion of stone or wood”).  He realizes that there is a “boss stone” located on the ceiling in the main room of the mansion, and once he gets access to it there is something hidden behind it.  The only other part i remember is that the building is haunted / guarded by this cloaked figure that has a tentacle.

297L: Cuttyhunk Island (Solved!)

The book that I am trying to find was purchased via scholastic books (or similar) in the 1978-1979

school year. Probably Spring ’79.  It was young adult fiction and either the back cover or the description said “Rites of Passage” (then something about learning to drive,graduating,etc.)

The book began with the heroine and her family cleaning out a beloved family cabin or cottage. Her grandmother had just died and she was having trouble dealing with it. A female cousin shows up and they don’t really like each other. Later in the book they become close.The cousin has become cool by sewing shift dresses for classmates. The dresses are unique because she added a pop art twist to

each dress. The cousin would appliqué a hamburger up by a shoulder or a little snake at the waist.

The heroine is dating / deciding between two boys. One is a freshman at MIT / ridiculously smart. One of them gives her a rock from Cuttyhunk Island. I had never heard of this Island and was taken with the idea that it could produce perfectly round rocks because of tides and gravity,etc. For a work of fiction,it explained it pretty well.

The heroine keeps the rock as a talisman ( learned that word from the book ) and at the end of the book throws it into the sea because she doesn’t need it any longer.

That is all that I remember. Thank you for your help.

296X: Yellow Cape/Yellow door

This book was on the shelves of the library of my middle school in the early 60’s.  I would find it by the cover, which I think showed a tree with a round door.  Not unlike Hobbiton, the story was about small people and their society.  They lived in hollow trees. The thing I remember best is that the individuals wore capes that matched the color of their front door.