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[Nov. 1st, 2006|07:12 am] |
Hi, I have a few mystery books for you!
1)I read this in late elementary or middle school, mid 90's. The main character was a young girl, 10-12 maybe, who had long red hair. It was set in pioneer times, I think, and the girl was around the Indians a good bit. She was a tomboy and maybe had several brothers. I keep thinking that the title of the book was her name and my mind keeps coming up with something along the lines of Cassie, but I could be waaaayyy off.
BOOK FOUND: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
2) I remember checking this one out of the school library in 4th or 5th grade. I think it was a mystery and involved a dollhouse that was an exact replica of the home it was in. There were a couple children who were trying to solve the mystery, I think. I recall that a book in the library of the house(and dollhouse) kept falling off the shelf that was a clue and there was a secret cubby space behind a brick in the fireplace.
BOOK FOUND: The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
3)I read this one in middle school. It's about 3 girls that were best friends; I think one was named Rachel. They were 13-ish and were starting to discover boys and such. One of the girls started becoming part of the popular crowd and rejecting the others. I remember that she was a gifted flute player and had an older sister that had bad acne. At Halloween when they were still friends they dressed as witches and recited MacBeth-Bubble, bubble toil and trouble, etc. I think I may actually have this book packed up in my mom's attic or possibly the sequel to it if it had one.
BOOK FOUND: Just As Long As We're Together by Judy Blume
Thanks in advance! |
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| Books I Once Knew, Part III |
[Oct. 29th, 2006|10:38 pm] |
Found! "The Doll" or "Yesterday's Doll" by Cora Taylor
Righto. I just remembered part of this book tonight, and now it's niggling my mind.
Time period: Probably written late 80s/early 90s.
Type: Children's
Plot: There is a girl who lives in the modern day, out West, and doesn't care about her family history. There is a book or a family album of some sort that she glances through, and a female relative (maybe her mom?) trys to tell her about her ancestors, and the people in the photos, but again, she could care less. She must fall asleep one day or something, and wakes up on a wagon going out west in the 1800s. There are a bunch of adventures that occur, but the one I really remember involves a doll that gets broken ... or something with a doll. Anyways, the modern girl turns around in the back of the wagon and realizes the little baby boy or girl sibling in the family is missing, and falls out too so she can chase after them and save them, and loses her doll in the process or something. I clearly remember this because I thought it was so bizarre that she would just fall out instead of alerting the family at the front of the wagon. Also, there may be something with a disease that the children catch, and when she wakes up in her time no one can figure out how she's gotten sick (or maybe not). And maybe she keeps going back and forth between times, which is why my memories are so disjointed. As I've been writing this, however, I clearly remember that she looks in the book and is chilled by the fact that the ancestors she was with in the past are in there, especially because there is this one kid, who her mom had said had died as a baby, in lots of photos as an older person. And she asks what happened to them, and her mom tells her they grew up and had great lives, which is not what she had said just two days ago, so the protagonist knows she changed the future. And I think the doll from the past is still owned by the family, only now, it has a chip that wasn't there before.
Sorry about the vagueness of this story, but I always thought it was the quilt series books, and kept checking them out of the library only to be disappointed when there was no time traveling in them. But it's only one book. Not three. |
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| Teenage story collections and an evil doll |
[Oct. 28th, 2006|10:00 pm] |
EDIT: Wow, you guys blow me away.
FOUND: A Candle In Her Room by Ruth Arthur
FOUND: The Phantom Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories by Ruth Ainsworth
My descriptions behind the cut are very spoilery, I realized. But the only one still lost is #3. Thanks so much!
Hi, first-time poster.
In the mid-80s I would visit my grandma’s house and read books she had saved from who knows when. A lot of them were collections of short stories marketed to teens, kind of pulp-y, and they were probably published in the 70s, could have been earlier or later though.
I remember a few different plotlines, hopefully at least one will ring a bell for someone. Details for all are pretty sketchy and I could be getting some wrong.
I'll put the descriptions behind a cut for length, but hopefully you all will click on it and help me find the books. :) Thanks!
( Read more... ) |
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[Oct. 27th, 2006|04:00 pm] |
i have no idea why i even vaguely remember this book, but it just popped into my head, and now i can't get it to leave.
i think it was a picture book, and it was about a toy rag doll, and it was on the shelf with other toys. they were prizes for a carnival, it was the game where you throw the ball at the bowling pins or something.
all i remember is her talking to the other toys, and all of them getting picked before her.
i remember liking the images, so it could either be illustrations, or possibly a movie...?
thanks |
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| Help!!! |
[Oct. 25th, 2006|11:17 pm] |
I've been trying to find this book for the longest time, four or five years, and no one has been able to help me. (Probably because I can barely remember any details...) I read the book about ten years ago, so I was around eight. I was an advanced reader though, so it could be a children's book or a YA book.
Anyway, what I do remember is that the book was about a girl named Christabelle or Christabella or something akin to that. There were dolls that she visited or knew, and I think one was a butler or something. For some reason I also vaguely associate the book with death, but this could be entirely off-base. And, well, that's about the extent of what I remember.
I'm sorry this is so hazy, but if anyone has any idea, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! |
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[Oct. 25th, 2006|09:24 am] |
FOUND! Biscuits, Buttons and Pickles series by EJ Taylor!
I've been having flashes lately of a picture book or two that I read when I was little.
I remember two little girls, I think one or both were ragdolls. There was one ?goofy? or lighthearted one and one blonde biyatch. I think the blonde one was named Pickles or something. Maybe I'm getting her mixed up with Angelica Pickles from Rugrats. Their mom was an old lady, I remember that.
I also remember the one book I had involved them being kidnapped by a witch while they were picking berries and the witch's daughter, whose name was Spider, helped them escape but only if the blonde prissy one switched clothes with her. So ?Pickles? ended up in a spider outfit and was grumpy.
Anyone know what the heck I am talking about? |
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[Oct. 14th, 2006|05:12 pm] |
I just thought of two more books!
1. A boy lives near his grandfather and visits him sometimes. (Either that, or he lives farther away and goes to stay with him for a while, but I think he does frequent short visits, like after school). He thinks his grandfather does stage magic tricks, and he isn't that impressed, but then he finds out that some of the tricks are real. Then the grandfather disappears and the boy has to figure out how to get him back.
- One of the tricks was a mini guillotine (it was where I learned the word) that the grandfather would use to cut the ends off his cigars, but he could also put his finger in it and not chop off the finger. I think he shows the boy how to work it.
- I think the reason the grandfather disappeared may have been that the boy startled him by showing up when he was in the middle of a magic working.
- I think that when the grandfather disappears, a creature from another dimension shows up in his place. I want to say it was a salamander or something similar.
Found! The Magic Grandfather, by Jay Williams
2. I have so little detail on this, I'll be surprised if anyone can help, but I'm hoping! My strongest memory of the book is that it was a really enjoyable read.
- There is a house. Under some circumstances it's full-size, and under other circumstances it's a dollhouse, complete with a removable wall so you can see inside. There are people who live in the house; I can't remember what happens to them when it's dollhouse-sized (do they turn into dolls, or just become doll-sized and still alive?)
- I think maybe someone bought it at an auction when it was dollhouse-sized, but I may be thinking of another book.
- I think it was a series.
- I'm pretty sure it was a children's book (easier than YA, harder thanEasy Reader)--the kind that are about 3/8" thick, and about an inch taller and broader than a normal mass-market paperback. Might have been published as early as 1960, definitely not later than 1985 (and I'd be surprised if it was that late).
Found! Mindy's Mysterious Miniature/The Mysterious Shrinking House, by Jane Louise Curry
Thanks, as always, for any help you can be! |
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[Oct. 14th, 2006|07:18 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | bald, camping, curse, dolls, family, found book, friends, illness, magic, romance, space travel, teleportation, time travel | ] |
I would just like to join in the chorus of "What a great community!" I keep seeing other people's description of books and adding them to my must-read list.
I read all these books when I was 7-10, so that would have been in the very late '70's, early '80's. They were all in the children's section--not YA, but not easy-readers either.
1. This one was about a guy, possibly named Tom, who joined up with a team of people whose goal was to travel to the past in order to change their present. The only thing I remember with clarity is that he fell in love with a girl (possibly the team leader's daughter) and where they were from, all the women were bald. When the mission was over and they got back to their own time, he knew they'd succeeded because suddenly she had beautiful red hair. I know that's not a lot of detail, but that's the only thing that sticks in my mind. This is "Time Gate", by John Jakes.
2. Three people crash their spaceship on an inhabited planet. They all have gifts or powers, such as one has the ability to teleport short distances (in the book it's abbreviated, as "t-port" or "teeport"). They realize that technology on the planet they have crashed on has moved at such a slow pace (something about it taking 70 years after the "Mark I" car was invented for someone to invent a "Mark II") that they can't depend on any help from the people there. They finally figure out a way to leave, but I think one of the three dies in the process. This is "The Galactic Rejects" by Andrew Offutt.
3. This one is about the adventures of a group of campers. While telling stories about their family histories, two of the girls discover that they are related way back distantly--one of the girls has a great-grandmother whose child (and garnet earrings) disappeared one day, and the other girl's grandfather was adopted as a baby by a French-Canadian trapper after being found in the woods clutching a garnet earring. Or something like that. :) One of the girls is named Phyllis. "Mystery at Laughing Water", by Dorothy Maywood Bird.
4. This one was about a family which gets a dollhouse from somewhere. Every third night the children in the family are able to go into the dollhouse and interreact with whichever dolls they have placed inside. The dolls are from different time periods and slowly the children learn that a curse was placed on their family hundreds of years ago which takes the life of every male heir. The evil doll/character who put the curse on them keeps popping up no matter what time period. He has a bruise/mark on his forehead. This is "The Ghosts of Austwick Manor", by Reby MacDonald.
5. This one is about a girl who is ill. She has a pencil and whatever she draws during the day, she dreams about at night. She meets a boy in her dreams who is also ill, and she draws different things for him, but then they have a fight and when she wakes up, she draws bars on his windows and monsters out in his yard. Then when she makes up with him, she has to figure out how to get them both safely out of the house and past the monsters, because whatever is drawn with the magic pencil can't be erased. This is definitely "Marianne Dreams", by Catherine Storr, published in the U.S. with the stunningly original title of "The Magic Drawing Pencil".
All found! Thanks so much, you guys! |
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[Oct. 12th, 2006|08:38 pm] |
Hi everyone! so glad to have found this community! =D
I read this children's book a long time ago,it was about a doll house where the dolls come to life and start exploring out of their house and the owner's home.
I don't remember much about it but they did have some adventures..
the book was a big blue hardcover iirc and it was probably called The Dollhouse or something like that but I can't seem to find the exact one.
I really loved this book and read it twice but it was sooo long ago really,I can't recall much.
Thanks to anyone who can help! =) |
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[Oct. 10th, 2006|12:43 pm] |
Hi! I'm looking for a book my mom read to me when I was little. It was about a family of dolls that were being shipped somewhere for some reason. There was the mom, dad, two kids(a girl and a boy I think) and the maid. They ended up getting shipwrecked and the story is about them living where they land. I really don't remember too much about the story other than that, I haven't heard any of it over 20 years. I do remember the book being think and there were a few pictures in it. I'm hoping to find it so I can read it to my daughter.
Edit: This book has been found. It's Floating Island. Thanks! |
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[Oct. 9th, 2006|05:16 pm] |
I'm not sure if this was a book I read when I was young or a frequently occuring dream, but no one I know has ever been able to place it.
The story (presumably a children's story) is about a young girl who has a doll that she treasures beyond all reason. One day, her apartment building/house burns down, and everything in it is destroyed. When she goes through the rubble looking for her doll, she finds that it has been completely obliterated, but that there was a little golden heart left amidst the ash that could not be melted-- the heart that formed in the doll due to the love the little girl showed her.
It's such a sweet story, I'd love to figure out where it came from!
Found!
2. The last book is another series, maybe of three books. This question was prompted by another person's request in this comm, so this may be the same series, but I'm listing different details. This book had two or three kids who were trying to solve a mystery (they may have come upon the mystery themselves, or someone else may have posed it to them to keep them entertained). The only distinctive scene I remember is the girl (there was only one girl, I think) tripped and cut herself on something rusty and they were afraid she would get tetanus. |
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[Oct. 8th, 2006|11:07 am] |
Hiya- I'm trying to remember two things.
One is a series of books I read sometime in... 97? I think? Somewhere around that time, although that may have absolutely no relation to when the books were written.
It was a short series, about these life-sized rag dolls who, when their creator died, came to life. They live in secret to hide from the world, and at some point- possibly in the first book- this man comes to their house because he... either owns it via someone's will or... has some claim to it, or something along those lines.
I know there's a character who's all blue with black buttons for eyes, and I'm somewhat sure there's someone whose name has the word 'Apple' in it. There's a name in the title, or in the series name which is... very distinct, for lack of a better word, and I believe it begins with 'M'.
Found that one in an earlier post :) On the chance that anyone else is looking for the same, which, you know, not out of the realm of possibility, the books are called "The Mennyms", by Sylvia Waugh.
Also- and I'll be truly amazed and grateful if anyone can help with this second one- there's a children's book which I read sometime in '95 or before. It's easier than a chapter book, but slightly above 'see spot run' type books.
I'm horribly sketchy on the details, but there's a group of kids, who live... in a relatively non-city place, and they create some kind of secret gathering place. I think it's a place they go that's already there, so not like a clubhouse or anything. And, um, stuff happens, and at the end there's some deep, meaningful thing about going back to where you grew up, or some sort of coming-of-age thing.
The thing I remember most is that the illustrations in this book were very vivid, very colorful, and they looked almost 3D in that way where they were on the paper? But... sort of like someone had photocopied a many-layered collage. If that makes any sense...
Anyway, thanks in advance :) |
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curious
hopeful
sleepy