Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

371N: Vintage teen romance – California in the 1950s or early 1960s, boy next door, high school (Solved!)

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Hoping for some more of that Bookstumper magic to strike again!
I loved this book in the mid-1970’s! It was old-fashioned even then, so I think it was written in the late 1950s or early 1960s, probably pre-Beatles.  I guess it’s what they used to call a “junior romance” and what we would describe as Young Adult today. I read it many times as a pre-teen, mooning over the sweet “boy next door” romance, and waiting for my own love life to begin. By the time I was actually dating in the late 1970’s I was too old for this book, so I’m sure I was reading it around 1975 or 1976, before I had moved on to Barbara Cartland’s historical romances.

It’s the story of a pretty and popular high school girl in a typical white, middle-class California family and her male buddy, as they begin to date. He woos her with many fun outings, fancy restaurants (I remember she saves her cocktail umbrellas and swizzle sticks) and a boat trip to Catalina Island.  Her name might be Lori?? I definitely remember she has an older sister named Andrea, because I fell in love with that name for a while. 
Our romantic heroine finally declares she’s won over by her suitor, just in time, as he empties out his pockets and reveals that he’s down to his last pennies. He spent all his savings in his pursuit of her heart.
In the meantime, she has given a starring performance in her high school play, with all her family attending to see her.  This is quite a success for her, because although she is bright and talented, she’s lackadaisical and  usually doesn’t stick with anything. There was some sort of trickery involved with her date and the whole family being in on some conspiracy to encourage her to stay with the play all the way to its performance time.  I believe they try to make her jealous by raving about another girl who is a wonderful actress, and arouse her spirit of competition.
I particularly remember the trip to Catalina and the trickery about the school play, and all the dating souvenirs. 
This is not a Beverly Cleary book, although it’s in the same family. I’m sure hoping someone else remembers this!  Thank you.

371D: French Fantasy Book

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I’m looking for a French kid’s or adolescent’s book. I read it in French class in middle school. It had watercolor illustrations and had to do with color. Maybe color leaving the world or being stolen? I think the main character was a boy with colorful wisps for hair. He was on a journey? I remember a villain, but I might be mixing up another book. It had a wide, white face and big eyes. Sorry, I know this might just not be enough!

371A: The Girl Attends All Boy Calligraphy School (Solved!)

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I’d read this in the 8th grade which I’d loaned from my schools library but it’s about this young white girl who attends an all boy’s calligraphy school at the calligraphy teacher’s farm home. I don’t remember how she got the chance to attend the school but I remember she’s not well off and her youngest brother is sick. Before she leaves on the train to the school her older brother buys her a grey wool bonnet and writes to her while she is away. 
There was a page of the book that had shown one of her brother’s letters written in the crosshatching/ cross writing technique. While at the school the girl has an assignment that a boy in her class sabotages by spilling ink on it. Little details i remember are her needing a stack of bricks for her to place her feet on because she cannot reach the floor white sitting on her desk, the girl helping a woman remove garden peas from the pod, and her getting ready for a fourth of July festival in the town her school is in. There’s also a mention that her teacher has written his calligraphy in his own blood. 
I believe this was set within the late 1800’s – early 1900’s in the United states. 
I’ve been looking for this book for years so any help whatsoever is appreciated! Thank you so much! 

370Z: Boy solves small-town summer mystery

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In 1975 I read a young adult novel about a city boy sent to stay the summer at his grandmother’s house in a small town. He doesn’t want to be there and expects to have a boring time, but stumbles across a mystery that he decides to solve. None of the adults in town believe him, but he eventually solves the mystery with the help of an older, wisecracking boy from the town. I don’t remember any details other than that the town was very small and along a small river or large creek and his grandmother’s house was at the edge of town near the river. I think the story was set in the generic “midwest” or “northeast”. The book was probably written in the mid- to late 1960s or early 1970s. I don’t think it was part of a series.

370W: Child/pre-teen collection of eccentric stories occurring at a school/office

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I can’t remember whether the stories are related or unrelated. A girl named Erika/Erica presents something to her class (I think it was a poem or short writing), but her name is not revealed until the end of the story/chapter, when the teacher calls her up to the front to present. Another character figures out how to hypnotize people to bawk like chickens or do other things. The book is relatively short (probably around 100 pages) and I read it around 5 years ago. The stories were quite unusual, and I first found and read it in an elementary school classroom.

370V: Teen boy wakes up and nobody can see him, he thinks he’s dead (Solved!)

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I read this book as a kid in the 1970s. I don’t remember much, except that a teen boy wakes up in the morning and soon realizes that nobody can see him. He thinks he’s dead. He can’t really interact with the world, but he does manage to ride a bus without falling through the floorboards. It might be that he never existed–I seem to remember that people weren’t wondering where he was. It might have the word “disappear” in it.

370S: All About Puberty

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Looking for a pre-teen girl book I read in the late 80s/early 90s that was already really dated. The girl in the book is going through puberty and gets her period. But the maxi pads still have the belt and the hooks. My friend and I just saw Are you there God? and for the life of us we can’t remember this book. They may have also been a part about keeping notes in a notebook about puberty.

370K: Teenaged Girl With Strict Mom Buys Pink Clothing And Wants To Ride Horses Like The Cool Girls (Solved!)

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I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of details in trying to identify this book, but here’s what I’ve got:

It was a young adult book that came out in the early to mid-‘80s – I want to say no later than 1985.  It was told first person from the view of a teenaged girl with a very strict mother who monitored everything she did.  The girl (I don’t remember her name) didn’t fit in at school and wanted to have clothes like the cool girls – I think the mom insisted on sewing all the girl’s clothes herself.  She secretly went shopping and bought a pink angora sweater and cranberry-colored corduroys and had to hide them from her mom.

I also seem to remember that the cool girls were riders at the local horse stables, and the girl wanted to ride there to be like them, even though she didn’t know how to ride. What sticks out most in my memory is that the writing style was very formal and stilted.  I remember one such sentence: “The following morning, rain was falling when I woke.”  Another was when the mom ultimately discovered the girl wearing the secret outfit and “Mother knelt to examine the construction” of the pants.

370C: Mexican beaches in a jalopy – early 1940s

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An American couple explores the beaches and coastal towns of the west coast of Mexico driving a jalopy. The story ends with the start of WWII, compelling them to return to the States. I read this as a kid in the mid-1960s. I’m not sure whether it was intended for young adults or grown-ups, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.