Books that Aunt Book Has Identified
Page 3

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Running Commentary from a Teacher
     “This is more of a short story.  I read it in a collection of children's short stories from my local library in Ireland when I was a child.  It  must have been at least 15 years ago. I don't remember the book or even  the name of this story.  The story basically consisted of one long piece  of dialogue from the teacher of an infants class, and from this  dialogue, you gained an idea of the room, situation, the children attending  the class, their personalities and behaviour and the general goings on  of the day.  Essentially, you were only hearing the teacher's side of the conversation and her speech was constant as she chatted, reprimanded  and encouraged the children. I can't remember exact lines but an example  of how it was structured was like the following:
     ‘Yes Lucy, I know you have coloured the whole page blue and it's very -  LUKE!! You cannot put the gerbil in with the goldfish! Put him back!   Yes Lucy, well done. Sarah, don't cry, you're Mummy will be back at  2o'clock - I know, it's very sad that your teddy is alone in his room but it won't be for long. All right class, start tidying up, it's nearly time for your milk. LUKE!! The gerbil does not WANT to go in with the goldfi- no he did not tell you he wanted to, Luke, now put him back in the cage.’
     "And so on, right through to the end of the story.  I doubt anyone else will have read this so there is almost no chance of  my ever finding it but it's worth a try.” 

Solution:  One of Joyce Grenfell's monologues.  Some examples can be found here:   http://monologues.co.uk/First_Ladies/Flowers.htm
It includes links to a couple of books, including one from 1998.   Information about Joyce Grenfell can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Grenfell   


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Live, Life-Size Doll Family
     "I read this book when I was in the fifth grade at County Line Elementary School in Winder, GA when I lived in the United States.   It was a wonderfully written book about a family of life-size dolls. They were made out of fabric and had stuffing inside them; there was nothing real (like organs, blood, etc.) in them. They did have minds and could think. But they were life-size.  I want to say that they lived in the attic of the house of the person who created/made/sewed them.  There was some kind of plot going on about a grandfather's will and someone else not wanting the dolls to get it, maybe? I am not sure.  I want to say that the title of it had to do with apples, like the Applewhites or something like that, but I am just shooting in the dark, so I could be wrong.”

Solution:  The Mennyms, by Sylvia Waugh.  Greenwillow, 1993.  (One of the characters in named Appleby).   Sequels:  Mennyms in the Wilderness (1994); Mennyms Under Siege (1995); Mennyms Alive (1996); Mennyms Alone (1996).  More information can be found here:  http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/sylvia-waugh/ 


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Backwards Town
     “There’s a book that is based in the town of Drawkcab, which is the word “backward” spelled backward.  Everything about the town is backwards.  Back yards are front yards and vice-versa.  Any idea what this book is called?

Solution:  Ice Cream For Breakfast, by Betty Jo Schuler.  Willowisp Press, 1991.   The author discusses the book here:   http://www.bettyjoschuler.net/kidsclub.html   


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Young Adult Book About a Futuristic World
     "This is a book about a futuristic world where no one can learn things except those of a higher society.  A young man finds an opening (a sewer-type place) that is hidden and sneaks in there often to invent things.  He winds up inventing something that gives off light (similar to an early light bulb) and takes it to the heads of the invention board, but they destroy it.  He then runs away into the forest and manages to keep going for weeks, and his girlfriend catches up with him.  They travel together and wind up finding an old abandoned cabin with windowpanes and books, and stay there to raise kids.
     "I read this fairly recently, but it is an older (maybe 1970's) book.  It is much more a young adult book than a children's book, kind of in the fashion of Orwell's 1984."

Solution:  Anthem, by Ayn Rand.  Originally published in 1938; reprinted many times since then.  Project Gutenberg has the full text online:  http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1250   

 
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A Pig, A Fish, and a Bird Who Are Friends
     "This book was for youngsters; it was heavy on the illustrations. There were a pig, fish and bird, and they were young as well. They all three played together and one day they decided that they would trade lives. The bird swam, the pig flew, and the fish rolled in the mud. At the end they talked to their parents about how they liked their own lives best. This was one of my faves from childhood and my children are growing up without it:( I remember it had a darkish, rosy pink cover."

Solution:  Three Is Company, by Friedrich Karl Waechter.  Illustrated by Harry Allard.  Doubleday, 1980.


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Black Cat in a Kibbity Boat
     "I am trying to find out the name of a children's picture book that my kids and I enjoyed for many years.  It is a rhyming book about a black cat that sails out to sea and a fork-tongued underwater monster who attacks the cat's boat. The monster chokes on the (kibbity?) boat. The cat wears weird clothes, like an octopus hat and fish pulp pants.  However, at the end, after he swims home, he appears to be a regular cat.
      "I can hear the book in my head, but just cannot make out the nonsense words.  It has repetition:  'in a kibbity boat, a kibbity boat, a kibbity boat.'  It may even be a song."

Solution:  Whiffle Squeak, by Caron Lee Cohen.  Illustrated by Ted Rand.  Dodd Mead, 1987.


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Pig Figurine Transports Girl to Fantasy World
     "I read this book back in around 1987-90 in Alabama when I was in elementary school. It is about a little girl who has a glass or crystal pig figurine that is able to transport her to a fantasy world where it becomes alive. Most of the time the girl goes to this world to escape something scary or new. In this world the pig is alive as are some other figures she has including a wizard that is turning the whole world to black and white. The idea of the story is that as the girl grows up and becomes less dependent on the pig to help her the wizard takes over more and more. In the real world the girl has an older brother that she cares for deeply and a mother (no father). I can't remember why it is revealed in the end but during the course of the book the mother spends lots of money implying that they are wealthy while all along she has either been stealing money from work or some kind of fraudulent act. I believe the mother ends up in jail at the end.  Please help me, I really loved this book and want to share it with my children."

Solution:  Good-Bye, Pink Pig, by C. S. Adler.  Putnam, 1985.  There is a sequel:  Help, Pink Pig!, published in 1990.  Amanda is the name of the girl, and Pink Pig is carved from rose quartz.


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Butcher is Suspected of Stealing Money
      "Somewhere in Europe (Poland, I think, because they used the zloty for currency) in a town so small that you could hear your neighbors talking and the houses leaned against one another for support, a butcher and his wife rented their house out to a man who wore a long black coat and hat.  (I think he was a lawyer.)   Because their house was small, and crowded, the renter could overhear the butcher counting out his money at night, down to the correct zloty. 
     "One day, the renter raised a hue and cry, claiming that the butcher had stolen some of his money.  All the neighbors overheard, and come to investigate. (One of them fixed boots, if I remember correctly.)  Because the renter knew the exact amount kept in the butcher's money box on the shelf, he claimed this amount missing, and asked them to check the box for it.  When the box was found, the neighbors were incredulous and claim it couldn't be so, but there was nothing to be done.
     "Then, either a female neighbor or the butcher's wife told them to throw the money into a pot of boiling water.  After a few minutes of scoffing, a layer of fat started to bubble to the top of the coins, proving that they had come as payment to a butcher, not to a lawyer.  And so, the nice butcher was exonerated and they lived happily ever after."

Solution:  The Sign in Mendel's Window, by Mildred Phillips.  Illustrated by Margot Zemach.  Macmillan, 1985.   


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Book With Flower Characters
  "I'm trying to find the name of a book I had when I was a little girl. The book had a bright pink color and had the names and pictures of the characters on the last page. The characters were flowers, the main one being a rose.  Someone lived in a teapot, I think. The rose was kidnapped and poisoned.  The book was bought for me in the late ‘80’s or early ‘90’s. The book was kind of big in size but not too thick. The flowers all lived in a garden and whoever kidnapped the rose had cans around his house. It might have been a spider. In the picture I think there is a dew drop on her and possibly on the rest of the flowers. The flowers I think were lavender, daffodil, and buttercup. It had glossy pages. "

Solution:  The Rose Petal Place books.  Information about Rose Petal Place, the dolls, toys, movie, etc., can be found here:  http://everything2.com/e2node/Rose%2520Petal%2520Place 

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Talking Mouse Doesn't Like Balloon Rides
            "I remember a book I read when I was about ten or eleven.  It was about a mouse that taught itself to speak in order to tell the little boy who kept sending him up in a balloon, 'IIIEEE DDOOOOOO NOOOTTT LIIIIIIKKKKE EEEEIITTTT!!'   The reason I wrote it like that is cause that is the clearest memory I have of the book.  That is very close to how it appeared in the text.  The mouse also flew a plane over the Grand Canyon and I believe he crashed and met the Indians who lived at the bottom of the Canyon.  I remember the word BEDLAM being used, which leads me to believe it may have come from an English author."  

         "I read a book as a kid, probably in about 1977, about a mouse that learns to talk so he can tell a boy that he doesn't like riding in a basket attached to the boy's balloon.  His first words are something like 'IIII doooo Nooot Like eeettt...'  His speech improves until he can talk normally.  After that, he learns to fly an airplane.  I think he flies it over the Grand Canyon, or across the USA or something.  Seems like he crash lands near the end near a campground.  At the very end, he is quite tired, and reverts back to his early 'mousy' way of speaking, as he tells the boy that he wants to fly around the whole world.  There was a picture of the mouse in a red airplane on the cover.  It is not Stuart Little, or the Beverly Cleary Ralph S. Mouse books. But I don't remember the author or the title."

Solution:  Herman the Great, by Zora Louise Olsen.  Illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Scholastic, 1973.


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Kid Detectives with Office in a Junkyard
"I can't remember the name of this series of books.  It was a series of detective stories for about fourth grade reading level.  what I remember is one the  kid detectives was named Jupiter and either they had their office in a junk yard  and one of the detectives relatives owned the junkyard.  It might have been the grandfather of one of the kids. Hope you can help me. However this series may be out of print. "

Solution:  The Three Investigators series, originated by Robert Arthur and continued by other authors.   This series started as Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, and after Mr. Hitchcock's death became just The Three Investigators.  There are several websites about the series, one of which is at http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/


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Boy Doing Science Project Announces Earth is Flat
"I read this book back in the late 1970s. It was about a boy doing a science project for the school science fair. I remember he hauls his telescope up to the top of a hill to observe and measure the curve of the earth. He makes a mistake in his measurements, and ends up announcing to the entire school that the earth is flat.  The rest of the story is about how he deals with that mistake.   I remember that at the science fair, another boy was building a nuclear reactor. The cover was blue, and had on it a picture of the main character and some kind of machinery on it. "

Solution:  Project:  GENIUS, by William Hayes.  Atheneum, 1962.  Reprinted by Scholastic in paperback (with the cover as described above).


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Irish Setter Left in Kennel When Family Dies
"I read this book about 30 years ago. It was about an Irish setter whose people left him in a kennel for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation. The family was killed in a car crash and he had to live out his days in the kennel. He was always sad and wondered why they didn't return for him. There were some pictures; I think one was of the dad and two boys and the dog walking in the woods cutting down a Christmas tree. And I think the dog is on the cover of the book. It's a very thin paperback book. It's very sad and I have never been able to find it as an adult."

Solution:  The Visitor, by Gene Smith.  Illustrated by Ted Lewin.  Cowles Books, 1971.


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Mean Sister Rolls Her Eyes, Crosses Her Arms, and Doesn't Like It

"The book I need to find is maybe from the late '80's to the early '90's. It's about a sister who is mean and it is stated many times in the book she rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and she said she didn't like it.' At the end the other sister says something like this:  'my sister ____ is always so mean (something to that effect) so I mixed up a potion all slimy and green and ya know what, she liked it' (or 'she rolled her eyes crossed her arms and liked it'). That's all I can remember and it's driving me crazy!! Please help."  

Solution:  My Icky Picky Sister, by Beth Hazel and Dr. Jerome C. Harste.  Illustrated by Don Robinson.  Lerner Publishing Group, 1984. (Other publishers are also given).


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Underground City in the Future
     "I'm looking for the title of a Sci-Fi book I read in the late '70's to early '80's. I had picked it up from the children's section of the local library and the only thing I know is some of the plot.

     "It concerns two children or young adults in the future living underground in a mechanized society. They have studies, exercise in a spiral track, and their meals consist of taking a pill. There are rumors or teachings that the 'Outside' is a very hostile place. They either hear of how to get out or find it on their own. When they do get outside it is Eden-like, but I think the other human race is more Neanderthal-ish, but I can't remember. I don't remember how it ends, but their livelihood underground, their searching for a way out, and their fears of the outside take up the majority of the story.  I recall this story once every couple of years and would love to be able to find it again."

Solution:  The City Under Ground, by Suzanne Martel.   Originally written in French and called Surreal 3000.  Viking, 1964.   


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Mrs. Santa Delivers Cookies
     "Can you help me find a book from my childhood?  It is a Christmas book, written to the 'Twas the night before Christmas' poem lines, but changed.  It's about Mrs. Claus and I think a sugar plum sleigh and delivering cookies to orphans.  The front illustration is very vivid to me.  It was purple, and showed Mrs. Claus in the sleigh up in the air with a cookie jar tipping and spilling cookies over the side.  I thought it was called something like "Mrs. Claus and the Sugar Plum Sleigh," but that might be wrong.  The book was made of thin paper, cover and pages all the same, more like a paper booklet. It had illustrations on every page. "

Solution:  Mrs. Santa's Adventure in the Sugar Plum Sleigh.  Published in 1962 by Phillips and Van Orden Co. as a Christmas present from Montgomery Ward.  More information about the book can be found at Loganberry Books' Stump the Bookseller site:  http://loganberrybooks.com/solved-m.html   


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Space Battle After Camping on Salisbury Plain
     "I read this at about age 8, so it was about 1979.  I think it was a paperback.  It was about 3 children who go camping on Salisbury Plain.  For some reason they go to Stonehenge.  Then aliens come down, and the children are taken up to space and join in a battle ."

Solution:  Star Quest:  Spacejack, by Terrance Dicks.  Target, 1978.   A picture of the book can be found here:   http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/terrance-dicks/spacejack.htm   


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Dog's Homeless Owner Falls Ill, Dog Finds a Family
     "When I was 13 (I am now 24) I read a book that I borrowed at the school library, and I loved it very much. Unfortunately, a few weeks after I returned the book, our school actually burned down so I lost any way of finding the book again. I remember I was so sad that I hadn't simply kept it past the return date and then it would have been in my possession permanently, hehe.   I will try to remember as much as I can about the book's plot.
     "There is a homeless man and his dog, I believe the dog was a Dachs but I cannot say for sure. These two have a special bond, but one day the man falls ill and has to go to the emergency room, leaving his little dog in the care of a very mean man, also homeless. I can't remember why, if it was to sell him or to make food of him, but the man tries to harm the little dog but he manages to escape. He travels for a while and experiences a lot of things and eventually he ends up with a family in a small town who take him in. He is very happy there, but his thoughts always return to his old master and he misses him.  I can't remember how it comes about but the homeless man somehow finds his way to the town and they reunite. I believe the dog stays with the family, but I can't remember if the homeless man also stays or if he moves on."

Solution: Four Paws Into Adventure, by Claude Cenac. Illustrated by Brinton Turkle.  Translated from the French by Sarah Chokla Gross.  Franklin Watts, 1961.   


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Pandora's Box for Children
    "I am looking for a small children's book called Pandora's Box.  It has a picture of Pandora opening this beautifully carved wooden box (which she wasn't supposed to do) and a black cloud of bugs flies out of the box. 
    "I don't think this is a Little Golden Book.  It was one of my favorites as a child and I would LOVE to see it again.  I was born in 1948.  My husband and I have searched for years for this."

Solution:  Pandora, by Mary Patric.  A Pied Piper Book; 1945. It was reissued by another company later.


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Girl, Cat, and Snake Fight Evil
    "I could be getting the details a bit muddled but here goes.  The plot was about a girl who had a talking black cat from another world. He was there because he was escaping from an evil that was taking over his world.  The cat was also a prince or king in his world.  The young girl in the story eventually also had a snake she could communicate with who was a priestess and she was escaping the same evil just in a different form in her own world.  I remember one of the two characters' world was taken over because true names had power and that character refused to give up his true name.  Eventually the girl goes on a series of adventures through different worlds picking up companions and defeats the villain with the help of her friends.
    "I read this book back when I was in middle school so the latest publication year would be 1999.  Also the book cover was black with a young girl with brown to light brown hair, yellow sweater with jeans, and with a black cat sitting on her lap."

Solution:  Charmed, by Marilyn Singer.  Atheneum, 1990.  The girl's name is Miranda, the invisible catlike creature is Bastable, and the snake priestess is Naja; the villain they are fighting is the Charmer.


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Brothers in Utah Go to Catholic Boarding School
    "I remember a book I read in 4th grade (circa 1980) about brothers who lived in Utah (I think) who go to a Catholic boarding school.  One of the brothers always seems to get into mischief (or seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).  I remember one particular chapter in the book where the main character was punished by having to peel potatoes for the evening meal and he was trying to think of clever ways to get out of the chore."

Solution:  The Great Brain at the Academy, by John D. Fitzgerald.   This is part of a series about The Great Brain; the stories are based on the author's childhood.  More information about the series can be found here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain


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Girl Hanging Off a Cliff
    "I’m trying to find a book I read in middle school, so it couldn’t have been published before [possibly means after] 2003.  I remember the illustration on the front was of a girl with a backpack on, hanging off a cliff. It was a ghost mystery story and I think the authors name might have been some form of Allison (Alison, Alyson, etc.)." 

Solution:  The Ghost of Fossil Glen, by Cynthia DeFelice.  Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1998.  Allie is the name of the main character.  The cover showing a girl hanging off a cliff was a later paperback edition.  Many thanks to the Dear Niece who provided this solution.


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Mountain School Called Singing Branch School
    "The first book takes place in some sort of mountain or hill community and there is a school called Singing Branch School.  I read it in the 'fifties but it may be even older.  The heroine is a young girl named Tassie, or Hassie perhaps, and she may be either a teacher or just interested in helping other children.  She wants to befriend a family, but the boy, Miles or Niles, resists.  Later, however, they become friends.  Lots of dialect appears, such as 'Shore 'nuff.'  And I think there is a lot of barefoot traveling."

Solution:  The Here-To-Yonder Girl, by Esther Greenacre Hall, illustrated by Willard Bonte.  Macmillan, 1937.  The girl's name is Tassie.  The entire book can be found online here:
http://www.archive.org/details/heretoyondergirl00hall

Many thanks to the Dear Niece who provided this solution.


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Foreign Exchange Student from Scandinavia
    "This book was ordered through the Scholastic program for older kids.  It follows a group of high school students - living along the California coast (I think) - through their senior year.  This group befriend the foreign exchange student from Scandinavia, and the preparing of a smorgasbord meal is involved in the story.  One of the characters is named Christina, and is called by the nickname 'Steena' throughout the book."  

Solution:  Fair Exchange, by Jean Nielsen.   Funk & Wagnalls, 1957.  Reprinted later by Scholastic.  Steena (and two of her friends) are of Scandinavian extraction but are actually from Nebraska.


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Alien with Talk Stalks Who Ate mottoes
     "I need the title for a science fiction book read in the 1960's.  It might be for older juveniles or possibly young adults.  It told the story of an alien from another planet who decided to give up his alien ways to live like a human on earth.  He had antennae called "talk stalks" and ate little squares that had sayings on them, called "mottos."  One of the characters was called Twylip, or something close to that." 

Solution:  Twyllyp, by Peter Farrow.  Ivan Obolensky, 1963.

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Teenager With Telekinetic Powers
    "During the late '80’s or early '90’s, I read a book about a teenager who had telekinetic powers.  She lived with her parents, who were scientists, and she went to a lab after school to be studied with other children who had similar abilities.  I remember that there was a test to see if the girl could move a paper clip through space, and she was able to do so.  She had a friend, I think her friend’s name was Suki, and the friend was the outcast of the group.  The main character went to visit this friend and the girl was able to change the colors of her walls.  The girl lived with maybe one of the other scientists; maybe she was adopted.  The girls find out that they were given up for adoption as embryos years before, and the main character is surprised to find out that her parents are not her biological parents.  The main character sees how much her friend struggles and decides to use her telekinetic ability to travel back in time to visit Suki’s mother.  Her mother is a psychic working at a bookstore and gave up the embryo because she needed money.  She was convinced to do so because the scientists wanted to study her ability in the future when technology was more advanced.  The main character is able to convince the mother not to give up Suki for adoption and the book ends with the main character looking at a yearbook and seeing Suki in her correct time." 

Solution:  Whispers from the Grave, by Leslie Rule.  Berkley, 1995.


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Brother and Sister Spend Summer in Woods
    "I am trying to remember a chapter book I read in the early-to-mid 1980's.  The main characters were an older sister and younger brother.  I do not remember their names.  In previous years, Sis and Bro would spend summer vacation with their grandmother.  Unfortunately, grandmother has passed away, so Sis and Bro will be spending the entire vacation at camp instead.  For a reason I no longer remember, Sis and Bro end up getting off of the bus at grandmother's stop rather than the stop for camp.  They realize that the bus they had been on was the last one for that day, so they decide (since they have their camp gear) to spend the night in the tree house in the woods by grandmother's house and get the bus to camp the next day.  And then they decide to skip camp altogether, and spend their vacation in the tree house in the woods.  The book deals with the effort they go through trying to buy food from the small town general store without the proprietor figuring out that
they're there without adult supervision.  They also find an orphaned baby raccoon in the woods and rescue it.  This leads to raccoon-related conversation with the store owner, who becomes much more friendly to them after.  There is a big rainstorm at one point, and Sis notices there are adult-sized boot prints in the mud near the tree house.  Towards the end of the book, the general store owner lady admits that she realized early on that Sis and Bro were alone.  But she knew they were the grandchildren of her friend, so she's been keeping an eye on them (and left the boot prints after the big storm)."

Solution:  The Hideaway Summer, by Beverly Hollett Renner.  Harper & Row, 1978.


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Animals in an English Village
    "What I most remember about the book is that the characters were very similar to those in The Wind In the Willows, but it's not that book.  It was a book that told short stories about the goings-on or adventures of the different animal characters that lived in the village.  It seemed as though it was an English village
    "The illustrations were very similar and looked a lot like Michael Hague's artwork.
    "One of the stories I remember was a badger(?) who mail-ordered a hot air balloon and was anxious to get it home and fly it.  He ended up loosing control and knocking off the the of the parson's church steeple. 
    "Another story was about lost invitations to a party at the Fox's Great Hall(?).  The postman was a rabbit or weasel and he rode a bicycle throughout the quaint village.
    "Another story was about a family of rabbits getting ready for the holidays, baking pies and cookies and later having a bonfire and roasting potatoes.
    "Another story had to do with racoons that were bandits.  I want to say that they were trying to steal something from Fox's Great  Hall but ended up getting caught.
    "The illustrations were fantastic.  The stories evoked humor, kindness and family warmth."

Solution:  The Fern Hollow series by John Patience.  http://www.patience.co.uk/john/animal.shtml


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Made-Up Types of Birds
    "Hardcover, white with (how do I describe this?) imaginative birds?  The book was about made-up types of birds like the 'secretary bird' which would type and do office work.  There was also an 'umbrella bird' which was pictured as a bird flying around with an umbrella.  I also remember one picture of a large bird with a clock in the center of its body."

Solution:  The Ice Cream Cone Coot and Other Strange Birds, by Arnold Lobel.  Parents Magazine Press, 1971.
     If you go to this site and scroll down you will see some pictures and a description of the book:  http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/search?updated-max=2009-05-26T21:45:00-05:00
    And here are some more pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mallorymcinnis/sets/72157627793523759/with/6255281776/


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Nicholas Who Becomes Santa Claus
    "The book for which I am desperately looking I purchased from Scholastic in the mid '70's. It was a children's chapter book, about an orphan boy named Nicholas.  Here is what I remember: He lived in a small village (fishing?).  His father was killed at sea; his mother and family died of a fever.  The town takes care of him; each family kept him for a year.  Every Christmas he would go to a new family. He makes gifts for each family as a goodbye.  Through this book, the symbols of Christmas (Santa, his suit, his sled, the first stocking, etc…) are explained, as this orphan boy Nicholas is….Santa."

Solution:  The Adventures of Nicholas, by Helen Siiteri.  Scholastic, 1966.  Adapted from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, by Julie Lane.


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Choose-Your-Adventure Type Book About Island
    "I am trying to find a book for my daughter.  I read it around 1987.  It was about a girl and some other children (maybe there were two or four of them) who were visiting the ocean or some watery place and go to an island.  I believe you could choose your own adventure, but I don't think it was actually a Choose Your Own Adventure book.  It would have been short and fairly easy to read.  It could have been a part of a series.  I got it from my school library in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada."

Solution:  The Famous Five and You Search for Treasure, by Mary Danby.  Knight Books, 1987.  Based on Enid Blyton's Five on a Treasure Island.


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Clues at Grandparents' House
     "The other one is a brother and sister who visit their grandparents and solve a mystery.  Clues are left all around the house and woods. There is something about First Nations artifacts and I think they cook fish using clay and an open fire. I believe there were three or more books in the  series.  They were old hard cover books and the illustrations looked like children from the forties or fifties."

Solution:  The Liza, Bill, and Jed mysteries, by Peggy Parish:  In Key to the Treasure, the children find and old family treasure by starting with a drawn picture, and Indian artifacts are involved.  In the second book, Clues in the Woods, they cook fish in clay.  Other books in the series are  The Haunted House, Pirate Island Adventure, and The Mystery of Hermit Dan.


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Summer by Ocean, Jewel as Third Eye
    "The main character was a girl named Moira.  She was either pre-teen or early teen.  She was spending the summer by the ocean with craggy cliffs and she had a little brother.  There was a fence that ran along a property and there was some mystery about the house or castle.  She had a piece of jewelry that she wore as a third eye and one night she had to swim around a cliff to get to a cove that was only accessible at low tide and spend the night.  In the end I think her father and little brother were there when she swam back.  I also think she had a friend who was about her same age, a girl."

Solution:  The Haunted Cove, by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton.   Kevin and Christie are the brother and sister; Mora is the girl with whom they make friends.  A review (unfavorable) can be found at the Kirkus Reviews website and gives more information: 
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-baldwin-hazelton-3/the-haunted-cove/


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Lotty Wants To Run Away
    "I'm trying to find a children's book that I used to take out of the library as a child (in Hertfordshire, UK).  I was probably 6-7.  I'm 26 now.  The book itself may have been from the 1960's or 1970's.  The cover was yellow, and it was a paperback.  It had some illustrations but I think they were just sketches; they were not coloured in.  I think the central character was called Lotty - the book may have been called Lotty but I can't be certain.  It was about a little girl who, I think, wanted to run away.  I remember a part where there is a wicker basket being lowered out of a window (but I have absolutely no idea why!); there was a sketch for this.  I think she may have had a cat.  Also, I think she lived with her grandmother.  In one of the pictures she is getting dressed wearing a vest and pants, and putting on her socks."

Solution:  Lotta Leaves Home, also published as Lotta on Troublemaker Street, by Astrid Lindgren.


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