I’m looking for a book I read as a kid in the 90s – a family of 4 goes RV camping in the forest, and a flash flood kills the parents. The siblings (a brother and sister) are forced to fight for survival and escape the woods.
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.
I remember almost nothing about this book except the cover and the fact that I loved it. The cover was blue, with a picture of a glass mountain on it, and a couple of little witches on broomsticks flying around it. I read it in the early 1970’s when I took it out of the library and it was probably aimed at 10 – 12 year olds. I realize this is not a lot to go on! But thank you for any help anyone can offer.
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.
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.
A teen series of short novels/stories about rebuilding cars, girls, and all things teen. They were published and stocked in public school libraries late 50s early 60s.
The book I am thinking about would have been published before 1968 I believe because i read it when I was about eight or nine in 1967. I live in England. I believe i borrowed it from the library or the school library.
The book was about a group of children staying in an old Abbot’s house or at least close to an old monastery. Virtually all I can remember of the plot was the finding of an old map in a settle in the house, which led them to find treasure in the monastery garden. I seem to remember the treasure was actually from the church and it was important for some reason that it had been found.
I know it is very little to go on!
Thanks
Two people ride a train into a place where there is some disease that makes everyone fall asleep. They tell each other jokes to stay awake. It was a story in a science fiction anthology for young adults. I read it in the mid 1980s in a school library, but it was an old book even then.
I am searching for a book I read as a young elementary school student in the late 60s but the target audience was a little older, perhaps middle school girls. I think the book would have been published somewhere between the mid 50s and early 60s. Even in 1969/1970 it felt slightly dated.
Here are some facts I remember:
1) The protagonist was a young (13-15) teen girl and the book may have been part of a series (of either books or movies-not Giget.) Or maybe not.
2) The setting was very much all-American, white picket fences.
3) Our heroine was very excited to be invited to the out of town wedding of her older male cousin.
4) Although I can’t remember the name of the protagonist or her family, the bride’s name was Joan. At one point she shows her mother a picture of a bride in a magazine and asks “Do you think Joan will wear a dress like that?” To which Mom replies non-committally “Perhaps.”
5) Much of the book is about the struggle to find an appropriate dress for our heroine to wear to the wedding.
6) The perfect dress is actually found at a thrift store or among clothes that the mother is collecting for a charity drive, a seamstress makes some adjustments, and she loves it.
7) At the pre-wedding festivities the protagonist becomes friends with a similarly aged girl who I think is the bride’s sister/cousin and who is a junior bridesmaid in the wedding.
8) Unfortunately, they forget to pack the perfect dress. Much sadness ensues.
9) The junior bridesmaid becomes sick and our heroine is called upon to fill in.
10) The bridesmaid’s dress is green velvet with a little velvet toque.
And that’s it, that’s all I’ve got. I borrowed the book over and over from the library, but the dust cover was missing so I don’t even know what it looked like. Even though it doesn’t sound like much, I loved it and would like to read it again. Thanks for any help you can provide!
This was not a children’s book; more of a youth read. I read it in the late 1950’s or early 60’s. It involves two boys sailing, or learning to sail. One chapter was titled Never Swim From a D___ B___. The boys learn through experience that it is a very bad idea to swim from a drifting boat.