I read this book in the early 1970s when I was ~8-11 years old. It was about a girl who was learning to be a figure skater and was frustrated by all of the time she had to spend learning to cut figures in the ice rather than doing more exciting skating routines.
I read this book in the 70s or 80s. It was titled something like “The girl, the witch, and the cat” or something. I really only remember that the title had a list of 2 or 3 things and said witch. It is not the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. I believe there were 3 books in the series. It was about a girl around 12? who befriends a kooky old lady who turns out to be a good witch. The 2 become very close, like family. I believe the girl is an only child. There may also be an old warlock who is friends with the old lady. One part i remember is there is an old friend of the lady who tries to kill or put a spell on her. This results in the girl having to drive the old lady’s car to help save her. When she looks in the rear-view mirror she sees glowing eyes in the backseat; knows this is the bad lady. Somehow it all turns out good. It seems there may also be magical items such as a bowl, a phoenix, the cat, etc. Though I may be mixing those up with another beloved lost story.
The novel was either YA or teen, something I read in the 1980s. It was mass market at the time. It focused on a family, more specifically a teenage girl. One of the first scenes involved her riding on the subway with her older sister. The two see a group of young men attempting to rob an elderly woman. The older sister steps in and is eventually kicked in the stomach by one of the men. This incident reveals that the older sister is pregnant, something that causes some conflict for the family. It is around Christmas. The younger sister spends time with a teacher, in one scene driving around at night looking at the Christmas lights. She also spends a night with a girlfriend of hers, someone who is depicted as a free spirit. I seem to recall that the younger sister was torn by her feelings for her sister – resentment at the attention she was receiving, but also love.
Thank you for your time.
Two sisters, one late teens/early 20’s and one around 9 or 10. They are poor. I think the way it goes is that the younger sister makes a friend somehow and goes to her house to play or something. The friend is much more well off than the two sisters. The older sister comes to the house of the little sister’s friend also at some point. At the end the older sister and the little sister’s friend’s brother become boyfriend and girlfriend.
The one thing that really impressed me when I read it was that the two little girls cut out pictures of the models in catalogues and made paper doll families out of them and after reading that book my friends and I started doing that as well.
Thanks for the opportunity to say more about the story. I hope someone else will recognize it.
Probably 10 years ago, I read a young adult book that I cannot remember the title or author of. I also cannot remember the names of the characters. However, I can recall nearly the whole plot.
The main character is a girl who lives in a community that has rebuilt after the devastating sound wars. To avoid another sound war, they no longer sing or make music. They also all wear masks that they receive as young adults, to stay unified. Before they get their masks, they color a coat according to their ability by humming into a machine. The girl, however, does not seem to have a talent. She can see sounds as colors, but does not realize this is a talent, she just assumes everyone can do it. The girl is told that she will have another year to find her talent, but then she gets in trouble for sneaking in to watch the masking ceremony. She ends up having to work as a maid because of this. Then she does something else wrong and, to keep from being punished, she ends up running away outside the walls of her community. She finds a group of people who live outside the walls, and they teach her the true history of how the sound wars happened. The girl realizes that the people who are controlling her old community were the bad guys. She returns to save everyone, has an epic battle, and ends up using her gift to eventually conquer the corrupt rulers and free her people.
Looking for a UK children’s mystery novel published 1960-1970. Plot revolves around policeman stumped by robberies in which getaway vehicle is Morris Minor/Mini that always disappears. Case solved when officer notices (autistic?) boy who copies down all vehicle registration plate numbers while sitting on overpass daily, and from lists finds that ambulance always goes past shortly after robbery. Turns out the Morris is small enough to fit into ambulance. Officer risks job by insisting on searching every ambulance in vicinity after next robbery, and finds getaway car inside ambulance. Black and white sketch illustrations; probably library binding. Originally found in elementary school library in Southern California before 1974.
In late 1950’s, early 60’s, I read a book from the Young Adult section of the library. It had a dust jacket that I recall as darkish, perhaps blue or purple with people, maybe the children of the story. The story was about a boy and girl (siblings?) who spied a wooden door in a culvert as they were passing by in a (carriage?). They return on foot and upon entering, find Vulcan at his forge. Reluctantly, he directs them to Pegasus. They climb upon Pegasus’ back, and he flies to the Elysian Fields. There is an illustration of Pegasus stretching out his dainty hoof to land gently with the children on his back. I believe they meet other gods and goddesses also, but I do not recollect the specific incidents.
Thank you for any assistance you and your readers can share.
I don’t have a title for the book I’m looking for. I read it when I was in 8th grade around 1962. It was a historical novel about a Scottish boy and involved a castle with secret passages and an uncle (maybe grandfather) who was locked up in the dungeon without light for 10 years. Believe the boy gets him out. Hope you can help me find this book!!
I read this book in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. It was in our school library. It was about a boy who was hired to carry the mail along the Florida coast before any development of the Florida coast took place. Along the way he saw many interesting sights and had various adventures. Finally he met a young girl and the two of them hid under an abandoned rowboat for protection in a hurricane. I don’t remember the title or the author. But I would sure like to be able to read that story again. It must have been written for older children or teens.
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A girl runs away to live in a house in a cemetery. Two friends come over and they make a suicide pact. I picked out this chapter book from the library for a report in 4th grade (~1984), made a shoe box diorama of three girls sitting cross legged. Creepy!