Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

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.

353L: Victorian house with dog and dumbwaiter

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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!)

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I’m looking for a young adult book which I read in the late 80s/early 90s. It’s about a boy, who gets accused of stealing in school, big  jazz elements as there are some jazz musicians who help him (and references to many jazz greats), it’s about righting wrongs without having to tattle.
So : a bit more detail. He gets accused. He didn’t do it but knows his wealthy classmate did it.
In the early part of the book, he wears a t-shirt that says “Don’t cheer boys, the poor fellows are dying” which is a quote from John Woodward Phillip and his t-shirt is met with disapproval from the principal.
The kid is in deep trouble as everyone thinks he stole and he has to go see a judge in court, I think.
Finally, and most importantly, there are a number of jazz musicians who provide the protagonist kid with help and guidance.
The book is about jazz, doing the right thing and the reality of being a poor kid whom everyone assumes has stolen whereas the rich kid is not even a suspect cos why would he even need to steal?
It’s really well written but I can’t remember the name or author and would love to read it again.

352P: Old YA sailing adventure book

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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.