334W: Boy Learns the Importance of Sharing

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I used to have a children’s book in the 1970’s about a boy who gets a wooden box with a trick to open it and candy inside. He walks home with it and refuses to share the candy with another child, a dog and a person (Rule of three). He gets home and has forgotten how to open the box. He has to walk back to where he got the box, and this time he shares the candy on his way home and knows how to open the box to get the last piece himself when he gets home.

334V: Mystery series probably published 1940-1970 (Solved!)

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I do not know the name of any of the books in the series, but I can describe at least one of the covers. Our library had 4 books but there may have been more. All of the books had a deep purple cover. One had a mansion or haunted house on top of a hill or cliff. For some reason murder mansion, Whispering Hill, sticks in my head. I believe there were 2 or 3 kids and one had an odd name. Definitely not the more prolific series, Three Investigators, Hardy Boys, etc. The books were hardcover and not very thick, 70-80 pages and meant for grades 3-6. I hope you can find the series I am looking for.

334U: Children’s Story About the First Apple Pie

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I recall a children’s story (I don’t think it was a book but rather a story in a children’s storybook) that I read in the early to mid 1970's.  It was set in the times of kings and villages. The king (maybe it was a prince or even the town mayor) had a contest for the best pie.  Apparently only savory pies existed at the time, no fruit pies. The story’s heroine, having no meat at hand, made a pie with apples and tried to serve it to the king/prince/mayor.  I think she was prevented by the king’s flunkies who were aghast at the thought of a pie with fruit but eventually she got to the king, served her pie with a piece of cheddar and won the day.  Voila, fruit pies. No clue about the author or the title.  


Thanks!

334T: Young Boy Learns To Swim

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This was a very small (maybe 3” x 3”) thin paperback book(let) that was possibly free, as part of I think a bread purchase (maybe Colonial?) in the late 50’s or 60’s. About a boy, very scared of the water, who learns to swim, I think with his family on a camping trip. Name is something like Noah or Jonah, but it is not the book called Noah Learns to Swim. Also not Noah’s Swim-a-Thon.

334Q: A lizard uses a mushroom for shelter and becomes a turtle

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The book I’m looking for is a picture book from my childhood. It’s about a small green creature, probably a lizard, who is looking for a home. He might also be trying to get out of the rain. He winds up finding a mushroom to hide under. The mushroom top falls off the stem and lands on his back, making him a turtle. The style of the book is very 1970s, though I’m not sure when it was published. The mushrooms in the book are tall and red with white spots. I also remember a yellow mushroom in the book with the same style.
I have included a bad drawing of how I remember the turtle looking by the end of the story. The mushroom might have been larger than in this drawing.

334P: Unsuccessful Boy Struggles With Successful, But Strange, Sister

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I have not read this book, but saw it in a list somewhere about 3 years ago, give or take. Family who has genius or academically successful children, except one boy or the boy is different, but I can’t remember in what sense, book might be about this boy and his struggles in the family. Synopsis I read mentioned a sister (of the boy) who is exceedingly successful in school but is strange. Sorry, that’s all. It could possibly be YA but not sure at all. Thanks all

334O: Orphans adopted by sadistic older couple (Solved!)

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I read a YA series of (I believe 3 books) in the 1980's about 3 children who were orphaned and sent to live with an older couple off of the eastern US coast in a large mansion (perhaps Maine).  The children were regularly subjected to gaslighting and emotional abuse.  No adult believed them until the end of the very last book because the couple was so well regarded in the town.   There was a cliff near the house where the tide came in very quickly and that played into the books very frequently.