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
Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)
355H: YA book with puffins and an island (Solved!)
354D: YA mystery on a farmhouse/orchard? with a secret passage part of the underground railroad
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
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.
353L: Victorian house with dog and dumbwaiter
Dog lives in a mysterious old Victorian style house that has a dumbwaiter, possibly has puppies to care for, and the book is for young adults, may be a chapter book with several illustrations. Art style and spirals on the ends of letters suggests mid 60s to mid 70s. I checked this book out from a library in San Diego around 1988.
352Z: Jazz Musicians Guide Boy Falsely Accused of Theft (Solved!)
352P: Old YA sailing adventure book
I don’t know the title of the book.
I believe it was published in the 1940s or 1950s, but I’m not certain of this.
The overall plot is a sailing voyage from the East Coast (Boston, I think) around the tip of South America to San Francisco.
It is definitely NOT the Richard Henry Dana book Two Years Before the Mast.
The main character is a young boy in his teens going to sea (as an apprentice deckhand or cabin boy or some such) for the first time on one of the new, fast clipper ships and he’s got to learn all about shipboard life and work, furling and unfurling sails, coiling ropes, tying knots, etc. He somehow makes an enemy of an older seaman who confronts him at the climax of the story, while a shipboard fire is raging, with the intent to kill him. The boy somehow escapes, but his injuries are extensive enough that he is unable to complete the voyage.
That’s about all I can tell you. I remember it being a ripping good yarn. I hope this description is enough.
352I: Boy Performs Appendectomy in the Deep Woods
I’m looking for a book I read in the late 70’s or early 80’s, about a boy who was deep in the woods with a man, maybe a relative, for an extended period of time. It may be a Canadian book. The man develops appendicitis, and instructs the boy how to cut out his appendix, to save his life. The boy does it, and it works. The boy must be at least 10 years old, he may have been a young teen, I’m not sure.
352G: The Symbol in the Magical Wall
I read this book in 2009 or 2010. I believe it was considered a young adult book but it was a good reading level for me in 6th grade. The book seems so scattered and has gotten worse in my memory over the years so excuse me if I seem to jump around in the story.
351W: 11 Year Old Girl Rehabilitates Horse Named Black Baldwin (Solved!)
I am looking for a children’s/YA horse story from the late fifties or early sixties. It features a somewhat broken down horse named Black Baldwin, who was bought/adopted by an eleven year old girl desperate to have a horse. She rehabilitates him and eventually wins second prize in some kind of horse show event. The book had small pen and ink drawings throughout. I don’t remember the book jacket though, I believe it had one.
I searched for a long time thinking the horse’s name was the title of the book. Either it is and every copy is long gone, or there is some other title.