Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

254F: Teens travel in time

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I read a book when I was a young teen in the early 70’s and can’t recall the title or author. It centered around a group of kids who were friends. I think they were very young teens, like I was at the time. They could stop time and go to the world of mythology. I’m pretty sure it was Greek mythology. I recall them being bored in school and being able to do this several times in class. I think they were helping the Greek gods, or at least trying to. I also remember one boy earning a bowl from a god, and in it he could have whatever he wanted to eat by just imagining it. It was the most amazing book–and it obviously left its mark!

Thanks so much and good luck! I’ve been wanting to find this book for many, many years!

253D: Secret Ancient Ruins (Solved)

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I read this book when I was in middle school in the mid-90s. This student (at a boarding school?) is blindfolded by another student and led through the woods following a windy path so he won’t be able to retrace his steps later. They reach a secret cave or something where the other student has discovered ancient ruins of tiny buildings (like maybe pygmies lived there, or some unknown tiny people?). Together, over a long period of time, they excavate these buildings. Then for some reason, (maybe this knowledge is going to get into the wrong hands?) the main character decides he needs to get back to the site on his own. He’s never seen the way, since he’s always blindfolded, but he remembers the twists and turns by feel. Once he arrives there, he destroys the buildings he worked so hard to uncover so no one will ever know they were there.
Thanks!

251D: A boy must find his strengths and his mother

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I am looking for a young adult book that I read between 1983-1990. (It may be marginally sci-fi or dystopian, I don’t recall.)

The story is: A boy/teenager’s mother disappears. As he tries to find her, he comes into his own skill-set (maybe as a mathematician, scientist or problem solver — something.) In the end, he finds his mother, and she explains that she is part of a group who intend to start a new society or colonize off planet — something along those lines. She left her life behind and vanished in order to begin preparations with the group because the time to start this new colony or society was drawing near. (I believe her skill is agricultural or scientific, etc)

The big revelation is that she couldn’t tell him about what she was doing or bring him along because every member of the group must have a special skill or contribution to make to this new society that they intend to form. She could only hope that her son discovered his skill and could follow the clues to find her. (Essentially, now that he has become worthy, they are reunited and he can be part of this new colony.)

Thanks in advance,
Jana P.

251A: A man takes in an orphan and gains a family

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Hi, I am looking for a young adult novel, published sometime in the late 60s to mid-70s.

Plot details:
An older man, somewhat down on his luck, lives alone in an apartment in a big/bigger city. He sees young boy (orphaned? abandoned?) wandering the streets. He takes him in, even though the man doesn’t have much money himself. He buys the young boy new clothes (which he almost can’t afford). At Christmas they decorate a small tree with the silver foil from inside boxes of cigarettes. They become a family. Possible names: Teague and Me? Me and XXXXX?

250D: Two Brothers and a Flying Machine (Solved)

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I read a junior fiction trilogy in middle school in the early 70s.

It was about two brothers who build a flying machine (NOT the Wright brothers – as virtually all my searches return).
I think it was set in either England or New England, possibly on a farm; likely at the turn of the 20th century. I think their mother is one of the characters. I remember specifically a description of cool linen sheets – of all things!

I think both brothers may have liked the same woman. (They might have been cousins but I don’t think so…)

One of the brothers was injured at some point – either in a crash, or maybe in war? Walked with a limp and a cane after that.

I remember rich detail in the writing.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcomed. I’ve been hunting for years!

249G: Treasure concealed in a barn

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I read this book in the 90’s but do not know if it was published prior.

There is a young boy whom begrudgingly goes to a family members home (may be a grandparent although I do not recall this aspect specifically). I think it was for his summer vacation. There is a local legend of missing treasure, maybe it was stolen? Many people have looked for the treasure over the years, but of course the boy finds it in a barn. I think the barn was on the property where he had been staying for the summer.

The treasure had been melted down and molded/crafted into items commonly found in a barn and covered or painted to conceal it. I believe he chipped off some paint of a candle stick or something, and the wagon in the barn actually was made of gold and also painted or covered in disguise. I hope this is enough to figure this out, I really loved the book as a kid and now want to read it to my children.

 

 

249F: A girl finds another world at the end of a tunnel (Solved)

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This was a three book series I read a few years ago. My library had them in the “young adult” section. I remember the book cover of one was green, I know one had vines on it. The book was about a girl and her family lived on a kind of farm and she finds this kind of tunnel. On the other side was a whole “colony” of these dwarf like things some of them had wings. There was this kind of Pegasus animal, it was small though and horse-like but had wings. I believe in the second book maybe the third the little girl gets sent to a boarding school and everyone thinks she crazy because she talks about these dwarf things.

One part of the book the Pegasus animal gets hurt and the girl takes care of it for a while in a sort of shed that her family no longer uses. At one point, I know, the two of them spend the night in a tree house sort of thing near the girls house. I know as you read the books it went back and forth of who was “narrating” like one or two chapters would be the girl side and then one or two chapters would be from the “dwarfs” side.

It was a kinda confusing series because it ended up that this little girl had had another life or something a long those lines. I don’t know how much help that is. There was something about a magical “touchstone” that guided the “dwarfs” they had migrated and at the end of the book they migrate again.

248I: children are turned into buttons (Solved)

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Probably read this in the early 1970s Two children, boy and girl, are turned into buttons by a woman (witch?). As buttons, they looked like carved bone and I think they were dressed as Pilgrims. They had to escape before they were sewn onto anything, because once they were sewn on, the change was permanent.

248H: A deaf girl is abducted

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Hi,
In the early 80’s, I ordered a book through either Scholastic or Arrow. The book was about a a young (possibly teenage) girl who is deaf. She gets kidnapped. Her abductors cut her hair and dress her in boy clothes to make her look like a boy. At one point in the book, either she or one of her kidnappers draws a bird on the wall of the room in which she is being held. The cover had a picture of a dark-haired girl on it and I want to say the deaf girl’s name was Katie, but I could be wrong. If you could figure out the title/author of this book, I would really appreciate it! Thanks.
-Amy Jones