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Cowboy and His Pal
"A series of books relating the adventures of a Cowboy Sam[?] and his pal, Slim."
Solution: The Cowboy Sam series, written by Edna Walker Chandler, including:
Cowboy Sam and the Rodeo, Cowboy Sam and Porky, Cowboy Sam and Miss Lily, Cowboy Sam and the Rustlers, Cowboy Sam and Big Bill, Cowboy Sam and Freddy, Cowboy Sam and the Indians, and Cowboy Sam and the Fair. There are more in the series. They appear to have been written from the 1950's through the 1970's.
Charlie and His Escapades
"Scholastic kids' book, mid-'60s. Paperback cover: boy on mattresses[?] going downhill on a street. Title: contains the word 'Charlie.' Plot: About the funny escapades of a boy named 'Charlie.'"
Solution: Here Comes Charlie, by Lane Peters. Scholastic, 1970.
Runaway Girl Dressed as Boy Joins Outlaw
"It's a kids book, probably about 'intermediate' level. It's about a girl between the ages of 10-12 (? unsure) and takes place out west sometime in the past. She lives with her relatives, not her father. Her mother is dead. Her dad is a sheriff in some other town. She decides to pretend to be a boy and run away and runs into a famous outlaw. She spends a moment reflecting on how her cousin would be jealous of her seeing a real outlaw. The outlaw doesn't seem to be very much older than she is. She gets caught in some akward situations because he does not know she is a girl. For example, he walks in on her when she is in the bathtub. In another scene, she is in a tailor shop and is asked to strip. She weasels her way out of everything and eventually makes it to her father where she discovers that he has been paying her money through the mail periodically but her previous guardian had been stealing it. There is another scene when she pretends to hurt her foot so she can lean on someone and pickpocket a key out of their pocket without their noticing."
Solution: The Gentleman Outlaw and Me - Eli, by Mary Downing Hahn. Clarion/Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Republished as simply THE GENTLEMAN OUTLAW AND ME and currently in print in paperback.
Grandchildren Solve Old Mystery About Hidden Treasure
"I'm trying to find a book that I liked as a kid. I'm sure my niece would love it.I had this book in the 1960's. It was hard bound and illustrated. Maybe 30 pages long?
"The story is about 3 grandchildren visiting their grandparent's home for the summer. The house has been
in the family for many generations. Over the mantel, the family has an old drawing made by the great
grandfather before he left for the Civil War. The drawing is of an Indian headdress, a small clay pot
and a strange looking key. The tale behind the drawing is that the great grandfather knew he would be away at war for a long time, so he left a series of clues for his children to follow. The clues would lead to some
kind of family treasure. The drawing was just a teaser that he made weeks before leaving to keep the
kids occupied. The great grandfather gives an envelope with the first clue to his wife on the day he leaves for the army. Unfortuneately, she puts the envelope in her apron pocket and then washes the apron. The first
clue is destroyed. The treasure remains a mystery." (More information was provided, but since it reveals the end of the book Aunt Book has ruthlessly chopped it off).
Solution: Key To the Treasure, by Peggy Parish. Illustrated by Paul Frame. Macmillan, 1966. Sequels to the book are Clues in the Woods (1968), Haunted House (1971), Pirate Island Adventure (1975), Hermit Dan (1977), and Ghosts of Cougar Island (1986). They have been reissued in paperback fairly recently.
Boy Receives Special Powers on His Birthday
"The main character is a young boy, and the opening scene is his birthday celebration, which his family is keeping hushed up from his father. His older sister vanished many years before on his birthday, so the father hates the date. He receives some sort of power in the book... the one clear scene I remember is when a school bully attacks him and he throws his "magic" at the boy's face. Everyone thinks he hit him with a rock, but of course there was no rock involved. I vaguely remember contact with his sister later on, who is Someplace Else entirely."
Solution: The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo. Methuen, 1986; Dutton, 1987. The first in the Magician Trilogy; sequels are Emlyn's Moon (Methuen, 1987) pulished in the US as Orchard of the Crescent Moon
(Dutton, 1989) and The Chestnut Soldier (Methuen, 1989; Dutton, 1991). It was made into a television series in the UK. Information about the author and the books can be found at http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Li-Ou/Nimmo-Jenny.html