I have been trying to remember the title of a sweet YA chapter book I read in the early 90’s that was probably written in the 50’s or 60’s.  It was about a small family who had a little boy and a little girl and I remember two stories from it distinctly. One was about the sister; there was a soap carving competition at school and the sister had worked hard on her carving.  She left it in the basement, and the mother thought it was to be used for washing and used it to do the laundry.  The little girl was distraught, and the mother had her look at it to decide if it looked like anything familiar.  The little girl ended up carving it into a kitten, and I remember there was an illustration of it in the book. Another story concerned a puppet show that the children did with their friends; I remember it being something like a diorama depicting stairs down to a dungeon or something Hamlet-like. 

That’s all I can remember, but I appreciate any leads!

I remember reading a series of books during the 1950’s centering on a group of young people in pioneer America I think the author’s last name began with an A. It might have been a young adult book.

A kid just moved to Florida(?) gets a job as a delivery boy.  He meets a cranky old sailor who runs a marina.  The sailor doesn’t trust the boy until after he sets off a siren to scare off vandals at the marina.  The sailor tells him sea stories and shows him a lump of ambergris.  Possibly a mystery. 1950’s/60’s era YA book