Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

357I: A 1960’s book about a lost lamb

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Looking for a fiction YA (perhaps adult) book from the early to mid 60’s that I read in junior high. I was given the book as a present. It’s about a lamb that gets lost in a forest/jungle. I remember that it had a jaguar, panther or puma that befriended the lamb and helped keep it safe. There were no illustrations that I recall; strictly text. It was a fairly long novel, about the length of the Harry Potter novels. The book had a green hardcover with the lamb and trees on it. I want to say that the lamb on the cover was black, but can’t be sure. Does anyone remember this book? I know it sounds vaguely like The Jungle Book, but that really isn’t it.

356Y: No Silverware

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I don't remember the actual book title but here are some details that I remember: 1) I read it around middle school 2) It has a female protagonist 3) The plot involves a girl or young woman who gets lost at sea and winds up on a mysterious island where time doesn't exist and people don't use silverware. 4) Eventually she is found and returned to her family but the island seems to have disappeared, and she can't remember how to use forks anymore. 5) If I remember correctly it was either a middle grade or young adult book, and was most likely published before 2006.

356I: Seeking the name of a YA book from the 80s

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So there’s this YA book I read as a kid that I’ve been trying to figure out for years. Here’s what I know/remember about it:

*It was about a girl, age 9ish-12ish, who was an only child.

*Her mom gets pregnant, which I don’t think the kid was thrilled about, but mom has a stillbirth or miscarriage.

*There’s a scene where mom comes home from the hospital after losing the baby and the girl is cuddling with her and there’s a rather detailed description of what the mom’s tummy feels like now that there’s no longer a baby in it.

*There’s also a scene where the girl’s aunt is babysitting her, I think while mom is in the hospital, and the aunt takes the girl to a bar for dinner where the aunt’s boyfriend’s band plays. The girl orders spaghetti and a chocolate shake. I remember this because it blew my mind at the time and sounded like the best dinner ever.

*I THINK there may have been another book to the story, wherein the mom winds up having another healthy baby.

*It was written in the 70s or 80s.

*I read it sometime in the late 80s.

*It was similar in style to a Beverly Cleary or Judy Blume, but I DON’T think it was written by either of them or by any of the other really well known children’s authors of that time.

*I am NOT thinking of the Anastasia Krupnik series.

That’s it. Any ideas? There’s no particular reason for me trying to remember, except that it pops into my head every once in a while and drives me bananas.

355V: 1970s Judy Blumesque YA Novel

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I’m sure I got this book from Weekly Reader in the early 80s but was probably published in the 70s. Opens with protagonist making a homemade costume for school with spray painted gold boots and a sword. I think I remember parents getting a divorce. I remember main character going into his parents’ bedroom looking for help with costume and mom getting dressed and getting a run in her pantyhose and saying, “Damn!” which I perceived as scandalous as may mother would never use such language - ha! Protagonist has an older high school age brother who is enamored with girlfriend and their song is “Stairway to Heaven”.

355P: The Monster Kid

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I’m trying to find a children’s book for middle school/YA age about a boy who collects monster memorabilia and is able to somehow bring them to life.

Mummies, Frankenstein type monsters, a blob etc. He thinks it is cool at first but of course it becomes a cause for concern. It deals a lot with him being an outcast for being a “Monster Kid”.

He eventually realizes the monsters can’t live in his bedroom and he has to get rid of them.
I cannot seem to get the right keywords despite remembering specifics about the plot.

355L: YA nautical adventure

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My uncle remembers reading a novel in about 1950-1960 (not sure when it was written) about a sailor who traveled all over the world on a large ship, having adventures. He was not the captain and was not married. He would periodically return home with a sack of exotic gifts for his nieces and nephews. My uncle does not remember much else, but the novel influenced him greatly and he always brought me gifts from his travels. I would love to find this book for his 80th birthday. Thank you for your help

355H: YA book with puffins and an island (Solved!)

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I read a book in the late 70s or early 80s.  I think it was a 60s/early 70s book, but that’s little more than a guess.
A few years later a children’s section librarian helped me find the book again and she knew exactly what I was talking about.  Whether that speaks to the popularity of the book, or the quality of the librarian I don’t know.  🙂
The story is a number of children having adventures on an island while their parents are busy.  Researchers I think?
Puffins are involved somehow, and I THINK that is part of the name, although whether it’s the name of the book or the island I’m not sure.
They get to the island via seaplane and I think there was a seaplane on the cover.
There were at least 2 books, maybe more.
Not much, I know.  🙂
It’s funny how strong the memory of loving the book is, yet so few details remain.

354D: YA mystery on a farmhouse/orchard? with a secret passage part of the underground railroad

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It may have been published in 1980s/early 1990s, maybe on a Scholastic list, set in the 1800s, a boy visits his ?aunt/uncle one summer, on a farm or apple orchard in New England (maybe Pennsylvania). There is a secret passage used for the underground railroad that is discovered by the boy in the house he is staying at, near the end of the book, when someone is hidden there. Someone may have gotten shot near the end of the book. Boy felt aunt/uncle he was staying with were strict and had a strained relationship with them until their aid to this person near the end of the book changes this. Can't recall the title, but it was long-ish. Cover may have had farmhouse/farm landscape.

353P: YA Novel About Mysterious Man With the Circus

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The book I would love to find again is a young-adult novel about a mysterious man that comes to a town with a carnival or circus. I know it sounds like Something Wicked This Way Comes, but it’s not. It is actually so similar to that plot, that it’s pretty much a ripoff. I don’t remember anything else about the book except that the cover was creepy and dark, possibly with a chalk-like drawing on it. I read this one probably around 1987 or 1988. It was a hardcover book and pretty long, at least for me at the time.