Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

216D: Toy soldier battles

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I am looking for a children’s (young adult) book whose name I do not know.

I read the book in the early 1950’s, but would guess that based on the illustrations in the book it was probably written before or at the beginning of second world war.

The book is the story of a child (possibly English) who collects toy soldiers which he uses to fight mock battles with other children. He is lured into fighting an unfair battle with his nemesis, and as a result loses all his soldiers. Due to circumstances that I do not remember he gets a chance to create a new army of toy soldiers which he uses to defeat his old enemy.

The book is well illustrated, Showing WWI (or at least British) toy soldiers and equipment.

Unfortunately I do not remember anything else about the book. the cover was missing when i got it. It could have been published in England.

215E: 2 cousins looking for lost gold mine

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Young Adult book about 2 estranged cousins who team up on a ranch to hunt for a lost family gold mine. One of the cousins breaks his leg at some point. They find secret messages inside canes that when wrapped around the handles form letters. They eventually find one of their ancestors dead in a cave. There was something about Archimedes as well and using water displacement as a measure I think. Read it in the early 80s but no idea how old it was.

214D: amusement park or maze on cover

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Children’s/pre-teen book, under 200 pages. The cover was white and I’m imagining either an amusement park or maze on it. I’m picturing red (lettering, maybe), too? I keep thinking the title has “joker” or “game” in it. I read it in the 1980s, so published then or earlier. I don’t remember much of what it was about, but it was probably a fantasy-type book kind of like “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Neverending Story”, Labyrinth (the movie w/David Bowie)….
I wish I could provide more details If you figure this out, I will love you forever. I LOVED this book!

212A: Angsty Teen Boy runs away to wilderness instead of living with rich parents

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Hopefully you can help me find this book. I’ve been searching for it for the better part of 10 years. The book would have had to be written no later than 1999.
I only have vague memories of the book. What I do remember of the plot is this:

Angsty teenaged boy is really smart. His parents are rich alcoholics that don’t really care about him. One day he decides to pack up, leave home, and live in the wilderness. He survives living in the woods for a little while, but does eventually start to have some trouble. He later meets a woman that also lives in the forest and has been for years(?). They quickly become friends, and the boy starts to become attracted to the women. They live together happily for a few weeks/months until winter starts to set in. One day they’re out hunting/foraging when she.. dies.. somehow. I think she slips and falls down a waterfall or creek and breaks her neck/back. The boy, distraught and panicked, buries or cremates her.
Now depressed the boy sets out further into the wilderness in full-on winter. He gets frostbite and I believe he finds shelter at some point. He sets out once again and at some point he passes out in the snow and later wakes up in a hospital with several of his fingers having been amputated.
The story may have been told in the past tense, while the boy spoke to a counsellor in the hospital.

211C: YA mystery series (Solved)

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I’m attempting to find two YA novels (may be part of a longer series) featuring best friends Kim (tall, thin, blonde) & Alexa (name may not be exact; small, brunette), 13-15yo, amateur detectives. One book features them at riding camp, investigating twin sisters who may be planning to kill male counselor who impregnated one sister. In one scene, they hike through a cave with stalactites and stalagmites. The other book features a mysterious death at a neighbor’s house where college/20-smtg friends of neighbor’s child(ren) are staying; they are involved in drugs and may have faked friend’s death by drowning him/her in swimming pool. I seem to recall the author had a woman’s name. The last I saw these books was in my secondary school library in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I would guess they were published in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Any help appreciated!

211B: Traveling merchant visits small rural town on top of a hill.

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I’m looking for a dark young adult novel, about middle school reading level, published from 2000-2009. All black with fancy white/silver steampunk-style text on the cover. It was about various figures in a small town on top of a hill, specifically a traveler that comes to the small town to show off some sort of technology/machiene. The townspeople live extremely rural lives in some sort of vague time period before machines were commonplace, but the setting is very disconnected from our world.

At some point in the story, a cat is implied to be eaten? I believe some sort of book is integral to the story… the cover of the novel is made to look like the book.

There is some sort of fortune-telling? I think the book vaguely predicts the future of people in the town. Sorry this is incredibly vague, I’m having trouble remembering almost anything about this book.

210E: collection of stories (3-ish) about foxes

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Looking for a collection of stories (3-ish) about foxes, all from the fox’s perspective with little-to-no human interaction. Very descriptive of the natural environment, tells of fox’s travels, struggle to survive, escape a hunt, etc. Would have been read in the mid-80’s, not sure of publication year. Likely for pre-teen/young adult readers, and may have been purchased through a Scholastic Book Sale. Not sure if all stories were from the same author, but writing was very similar for all. Total length of the collection was around 120-150 pages. If memory serves, the title of one story was fairly long (may also have been the title of the collection), other titles were short. The book I read was a brown hardcover, some light illustration on the dust cover. Previous searches have turned up “Red Fox” by Charles G.D. Roberts. I do not believe that is the book I am looking for, though the synopses would be very similar.

210A: kind of “charm school” in book form

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I regret very much that I cannot recall the name of the book, and I do not know who the author is (but I’m pretty positive it was a female author). The book was one of a stash of books my grandmother sent to me one Christmas — I think I may have been about 12 or 13 years old. I was born in 1956 so that would be 1969, but my memory is weak, and I cannot recall precisely how old I was.

The book had pen and ink illustrations, and basically, it was a “growing up” book for young ladies or teenage girls. It dealt with good manners, proper etiquette, poise, appearance — kind of “charm school” in book form. I remember some of the passages: advice on what to do when you are a guest in someone’s home, how to address an invitation; how to properly rsvp to a wedding invitation, how to set a table, proper table manners, etc. — I even recall the instruction to leave some morsel on your plate when you are a dinner guest, rather than leave your plate completely cleared…..so as not to give the hostess the impression that you were left still hungry..!!). There was a chapter on good grooming, and the mention of an anecdotal story about a young secretary who, earning a meager salary, owned only one blouse, yet nevertheless took care that it was always clean and pressed….the young woman’s attention to her neat appearance eventually gained her the attention of her boss, who ended up marrying her.

I’ve searched for more than 30 years for this book — I did not own it for very long, as I was foolish enough to loan it to an irresponsible classmate who never returned it to me.. But having 3 daughters myself, I have often thought of this book and wished I could find it to share with them. The author’s writing style and language had a certain refinement that I do not find in the books that I’ve come across in my internet search for this particular book.

I’ll be astonished, and more than grateful, if my Stump the Bookseller inquiry is unsuccessful and you do actually locate this book for me.

208B: Post-apocalyptic fairy story (Solved)

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My memory is kind of fuzzy, but it was either a children’s or young adult novel I read in the early-to-mid 2000s (I’m leaning closer to somewhere around 2004-2006, give or take a year). The main plot line was that there’s some sort of horrible acidic superstorm approaching the house of these kids. Their power goes out, so the older sibling tries to calm the younger ones by telling them a story about fairies. Their parents aren’t there (I think I remember them being out of the house scavenging for resources. The kids are worried about this, and I think it’s implied they might be dead, but I’m not sure). I remember this part of the story being pretty dark.

After this, the story then shifts to the kid’s story, following the exploits of the fairy and its mischief in a much lighter and happier world, while periodically interjecting dialogue between the siblings. I also remember something about an old lady meeting the fairy. I can’t remember the story very well from here, and I don’t think I finished the book.

If it helps, I remember the cover of the book depicting some storm cloud and a lightning bolt, with the title involving something like “Sprite” or “Fairy.”