Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

227G: A book with an alternate ending

1 Reply

It is middle school aged, maybe 5th and 6th grade, and very much like a Beverly Cleary book, and it was in the mid to late 60’s that I read it. You flipped it upside down to read the alternate ending, which had a different cover. I loved it back then because it showed that bullies and the bullied are not so much different. The boy had a major challenge…to play in a school concert, it was either a bugle or a trumpet, and that was the end of both versions of the story.

I’ve looked all over and it seems not to be Beverly Cleary. I know I read it about the same time I was reading Beezus and Ramona.

227E: City boy and crusty mountain man thwart horse rustlers, catch and tame wild mustang

3 Replies

Young adult book; city boy spends the summer in the high country with aunt and uncle who are about to lose their ranch; crusty loner/family friend takes boy into the mountains for a few weeks; they catch and tame wild a mustang and thwart horse rustlers and save aunt and uncle’s ranch.

225D: Girl experiences loss and self exploration in New England

9 Replies

Adolescent book from 1980s: Girl and her lovely sister move to New England; the sister gets cancer and dies. They meet and interact with all kinds of characters, including a pregnant couple they think is not really married and a photographer. At the end of the book, she goes to an exhibit called Faces of New England and sees her own face among the portraits submitted by the photographer friend, and sees herself in a new way. Beautifully written, a book that stayed with me a long time as a teenager.

Thanks for your help!

224I: Cross country adventure

2 Replies

A book that my 6th grade teacher read to my class back in 1978-79. It was about a family – I think they were on vacation – and the kids were separated/lost their parents. The kids began a journey traveling across the country – the thing I remember the most is that they slept in stores/maybe shopping malls…

Thank you for your help – I have been looking for years!

222A: girl who moved to New York City in the summer (Solved)

5 Replies

I’ve been trying forever to remember a book that I read when I was young. I think I was 10-13. Mid-80s. There was a girl who moved to New York City in the summer. Because she had no friends yet (I think), she spent a lot of time exploring the city by herself. She rode the bus by herself and she went to the movies by herself. She was really into fashion and talked a lot about the outfits she was putting together every day. I think that there was a department store that she loved and maybe fantasized about buying something there? I think she did a lot of window shopping.

I don’t remember her interacting with any other characters, so I have no idea what the plot was. I just remember thinking that it was so cool that she was getting around the city by herself, and that she was so fashionable.

220A: The Mystery of the Missing Diamonds

7 Replies

Publication: I believe this book was published in about 1969 or 1970.

Genre: Early teen to Pre-teen mystery, possibly bought from Scholastic Books

Plot: A young girl with the last name Duncan solves a mystery of some missing diamond jewelry. She ends up finding the thief, a lady new to town who goes everywhere with her poodle. The diamonds were hidden in the puff on the poodle’s head. Story takes place in the summer. One chapter in the book describes a garden party where the main character’s friend dresses in matching mother-daughter outfit with her mom. Main character appreciates her own mom as dressing in an “unfussy” way.

218F: a wet Cat. Dozer

3 Replies

Looking for a book I read in the 1950s or early 1960s. As I recall, it was about a teen or a couple teens who recovered a Caterpillar D2 bulldozer from a lake or pond, got it running, and used it for various projects. Could have been a Scholastic book club book. Was hardbound. One of the few non-classic books I remember reading as a youngster.