Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

347G: Children’s novels about Ancient Egypt – Akhenaten

There are two or three novels (more like junior high/high school novels - called YA today) in a series.  All about Akhenaten and his decision to worship the one god, Aten.  He and Nefertiti had several daughters, one named Merriaten?  Tutankhamen, who began life as Tutankhaten, was also in the later novels.  Very romanticized.  No plural marriage mentioned.

346N: Old TV’s with many antennae that float!

I’m looking for a children’s/preteen’s chapter(?) book which was some in a similar black and white, hand drawn art style to Shel Silverstein. It had the same white pages with black words and drawings, but more detailed. And more words. It was not by him though, I checked. I was reminded of this book by a picture I will include below. In the book, however, I believe they were older thick TVs with antennas sticking out in a similar way to the picture. They floated and I believe they were some sort of antagonist or tools used by them. I think I remember little creatures (goblins?) and/or children in the book as well. There was also a lot of junk and trash and piles of books on some pages. Maybe also some strange wildlife scenes like they were in an alien/fantasy planet? I know it definitely did not take place in the real word. Fear was a large element in the book, I believe it was mildly dark/adventure focused, not for very small children. I hope this is enough information, I have a burning desire to know what this book is because it seems so interesting!

345U: Virgin Islands young adult mystery (Solved!)

I am searching for a young adult mystery that was set in the Virgin Islands.  The protagonist, a young woman, receives a message from her father on an alphabet shell.  I think it was her father, who is a doctor, and who has been abandoned on an island.
Please help me.  This book was a seminal influence on my desire to live on islands. I now live in Manhattan.

345P: YA book where kids get gills cut in their necks and go underwater

A group of kids, maybe a girl and her younger siblings, are surviving on their own. They meet a boy on the beach, who cuts gills into their necks somehow, and they go swim in the ocean and visit a deep and dangerous chasm at one point. Mermaids may or may not be involved. They leave the water in the end. The cover is blue with a picture of them swimming; the art wraps around the front and back, though it was probably a paperback. YA Pre-2000. Eerie feel.

345G: “A place…” book for a Brit (Solved!)

I am in desperate search of a book for my dear British friend. She grew up in Suffolk, England, born in 1958, and remembers a book she used to pour over as a girl:
Possible title: A Place of Your Own
Contents: pictures and descriptions of homes, rooms, treehouses and places where children (and maybe young adults) escape to be kids
Publication Dates: at least published by 1972
Location: read in Suffolk, England

345D: Search for children’s book vaguely remembered – White Girl Joins African Tribe

 
I am looking for a juvenile book I vaguely remember. I can remember the library I borrowed it from and the exact look of that library, but not the book title, author, or clear details!  My only memories of the book are: 
 
I believe it was a story about a white (American? British?) girl who somehow passes through (a mirror? a book?) into the life of an African tribal people. After becoming friends with (another child? the tribe?) she regrettably has to return to her modern life through the same (magic?) process she used getting there. I believe the friend/tribe give her a string of beads to remember them by (?).  The book would have been been appropriate reading for probably pre-puberty ages – 10-14? 
 
That’s all the info I have, and I hope you are NOT stumped! This book has always stayed in my mind, no matter how vague my memory is, and I want to read it again to find out why. 

344Z: Melting gold and first period

I read this book in 7th grade language arts in 1994/95 in Astoria, OR. Might have been by a regional author. The plot felt a little dystopian, maybe, and involved a young girl who was a member of a close-knit, sort of secluded community. Key plot points included a ritual that involved melting a piece of gold into a small shape and wearing a specific outfit (probably red) to a ceremony/festival after getting her first period. I don’t think the word “period” was ever mentioned. Sewing was involved, maybe by the whole community. It’s possible it took place in the distant past. I believe the title started with an S and was a single word like Stitchers, Spindles, or Spinners.

344W: Young Adults in Frontier America

I am searching for a young adult adventure series I read in the 70's, although I think the series was several decades old at the time. It was based on the adventures of young adults on the frontier of colonial, American Revolution and Post American Revolution America. Debby Boone was the main character of one book, and she leaves the message "D Boone cilled a bar" carved into a tree after dispatching a bear. Another book had the heir to the French throne being brought up in a cabin in the remote mountains of frontier America. The title of the series was something like "The Young Rifles" or the "Young Frontiersmen". I've never run across the series, but would love to find them.

344S: Boy with a Magic Pencil?

I recall a young adult chapter book from my youth (late 1970s-early 1980s) about a boy with a magic pencil. It is used like a regular pencil, but it might have been blue lead. Like a regular pencil, it needs to be sharpened, and gets slightly smaller each time. I can’t recall the things he made or did with it. Some dramatic emergency with the last bit of pencil.  Apologies but that’s all I remember.

344P: Red Haired Princess Must Kill Mother With Ceremonial Dagger

I’m searching for the title of a young adult fantasy book about a Celtic princess with red hair, who in order to become queen must kill her mother with a their ceremonial dagger, according to their tradition. I thought the title was QUEEN’S BLADE or WITCH'S BLADE, but I haven’t had any luck locating the book. I also think the princess had a Roman father. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you!