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Allen W. Eckert, Song of the Wild. This has to be it.  Here is a description: "A young boy's remarkable ability to transfer his consciousness at will into any living organism and to share what it experiences proves to be an exhilarating but bittersweet gift."  (I had also forgotten the title but knew that it was by the author of Incident at Hawk's Hill, another favorite.)
Lawrence, Harriet, H. Philip Birdsong's ESP, 1969. I wonder if you're thinking of H. Philip Birdsong's ESP, which features a boy, son of a vet, who discovers he can communicate with animals while playing the recorder that's been handed down through his family.  There's definitely a dog with an eye for color and a stubborn insistence on her cushion color:  Dolores, the Pekinese.  Phil creates an exercise contraption for her out of an old rollerskate - Dolores is overweight. Main thread of the story involves saving the neighbor's dog Bozo from the nasty neighbor who has her eye on Bozo's owner.
Lawrence, Harriet, H. Philip Birdsong's ESP, 1969. Sounds like you're remembering H. Philip Birdsong's ESP.  The boy's  father is a vet.  The greatly overweight Pekinese, Dolores,  is the dog that sees in color.
Solved! Thank you to the two people who correctly identified that book.  I've been trying to remember that book title for years!

Haugaard, Erik Christian, Hakon of Rogen's Saga (1963) and/or A Slave's Tale (1965). After some further googling, I hit upon the author, Haugaard, and turned up the two titles/books that may have merged into a single memory. Was Helga not a sister, but a friend to the protagonist? Do these books ring a bell with anyone?
Hagar and Grete. Viking Brother and sister--I believe book title was their names...blank and blank, Hager and Gerte or something? It was powerful and very heart breaking. At one point I remember an adult character restrains the brother from reacting to some event by saying (iambically) "The wind can't break a blade of grass, but it can fell an oak." I wish I could remember something more useful!

I don't  remember the name of this story, but I read it when I was in school.  It seems to me (I could be wrong about this), that it was in one of those Reader's Digest magazines they used to have in schools.  I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.
Robert Zacks, Half a Gift, 1947.  I have a huge stack of those Reader's Digest Skill Builders and this story was in only about the seventh one down.  Trouble is, as I pointed out before with my "Butter and Egg Lady" stumper, identifying any one volume of these is extremely difficult because they are all titled either "Reader's Digest Reading Skill Builder" or "Reader's Digest New Reading Skill Builder" followed by "Part 1" or "Part 2."  Anyhow, this is "Reader's Digest Reading Skill Builder, Part 2," copyright 1959, and can be identified by four butterflies in the foreground of the cover chased by two children in a meadow in the background.  The original poster might actually do better going to a library which keeps old magazines or microfilms and looking for the original story, or writing the publishers for a copy.  It appeared in Collier's, May 17, 1947, and The Reader's Digest, October 1947.

I think this is a book by Edward Eager, possibly Half Magic, but more likely one of the follow ups.  Carrie the cat was magically allowed to speak. It wasn`t a success; as the magic was only half magic, her young owner wished that the cat might only be allowed to say the word "music" [assuming that she`d then say "Mew"]. She actually said "Sick, Sick sick sick---" And she looked it.  A wonderfully funny and inventive book. I must read it again.
Half Magic.  Yes, it sounds like the episode with Carrie the cat from Half Magic, except there were four children.

Possibly Natalie Savage Carlson's The Half-Sisters (A 12-year-old girl looks forward to a summer filled with many events, especially showing her half-sisters, arriving from boarding school, how grown up she is) and Luvvy and the Girls (12-year-old Luvvy is delighted that she is at last old enough to accompany her older half sisters to boarding school)??
Natalie Savage Carlson, The Half Sisters, Luvvy and the Girls.  Here's the plot of  The Half Sisters:  "The story takes place in the years around 1915 on a farm near Frederick, Maryland. Luvvy, Maudie, and Marylou's mother remarries a man who has 3 older daughters. Luvvy (Luvena) is almost 12 and thinks that she should be one of the older girls now and not have to have 7 year old Maudie hanging around her all the time or have to take care of little 4 year old Mary Lou. During the year Luvvy grows up quite a bit and learns that sometimes it's nice just to be a child and not to want to grow up too fast."
Natalie Savage Carlson, The Half Sisters, sequel: Luvvy and the Girls 

#S219--seal baby or sea lion grows up:  "The White Seal" appears in The Second Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling.  Since most of these stories appeared separately as picture books, probably this one did, too.  This was also an animated CBS special, with the voice of Roddy McDowall, done quite well.
I've ordered a copy of Kipling's story to check it out.  I'll be surprised (but pleased) if that's the answer, because I would have been familiar with Kipling, so it seems I would remember that it was one of his stories.
Ewan Clarkson, Halic:  The Story of a Gray Seal, 1970.  This is a book I read as a child, and it certainly fits your description.  "In writing that evokes the very sound and smell of the sea, Clarkson follows Halic's growth to maturity. There are long periods of calm as Halic forages the ocean for food, then sudden dramatic moments of danger. His life is menaced by sharks and killer whales, and by man, his greatest enemy. But other men work to ensure his survival."
This is the right answer to my query.  Somebody else sent it in a while ago, and I finally got a copy of the book to check.  Yes, this is the terrific story - thanks so much to whoever it was that solved it!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Clarkson, Ewan.  Halic: The Story of a Gray Seal.  Drawings by Richard Cuffari.  Camelot Books / An Avon mass paperback, 1970, 1971.  VG.  $6

Edna Barth, Witches, Pumpkins and Grinning Ghosts, 1972.  Here is one possibility--Witches, Pumpkins and Grinning Ghosts.  It tells where most of the Halloween symbols came from and does talk about black cats.  I couldn't find anything about finding witches by putting one's shirt on backwards, though.
Lillie Patterson, Halloween, 1963.  Published by Garrard Publishing Company, Illustrated  by Gil Miret.  Could this be it?  It's at my parents' house so I can't look at it myself (had Dad e-mail the info!), but your stumper reminded me of this book, which I loved as a kid. I remember more of a focus on traditions from the past rather than from other countries, but still, the time is right, and I think it has an orange hard cover.
Patterson, Lillie, Halloween.  This is the correct book.  On page 31 it says, "Put your clothes on wrong side out.  Walk backwards to a crossroads on Halloween night.  At midnight you will see s witch."  The contents:  It's Halloween (includes The Strange visitor story), How It All Began (the Celts & Druids), The Apples of Pomona and the Eve of All Hallows, Ghosts Ghosts Ghosts, Witches and Black Cats, Wee Folk, Halloween Customs from Many Lands, Magic Tests - Chants - Charms (Who is my true love? What is his name?), Halloween Comes to America, Halloween with a Heart (UNICEF trick or treating).

His name is Hamilton.  I get lots of requests for this one, and only recently got my hands on a copy.
that's it!  and all these years i've been wasting time looking for "homer."  when i went to college, my mother took my copy to her office for the kids in the waiting room to read.  one day her "helpful" coworker threw it, and the other books i'd mentioned, out because they looked raggedy.  she replaced them with a bunch of cheap supermarket junk.  some people are just confused about what constitutes a good book.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Peck, Robert Newton.  Hamilton.  Illustrated by Laura Lydecker.  Little, Brown, 1976.  Hard to find!  This copy is unfortunately musty, and the boards are a bit warped.  I try not to have musty books, but it was the first time I'd ever found it!  Aside from that, it looks good.  Poor.  $30

M13:  Hangin' Out With Cici by Francine Pascal (And there was an ABC Afterschool Special based on it. It was called My Mother Was Never A Kid).
It looks like my stumper has been solved--now I know the name of the book. Wouldn't you know, it is out of print!  I would be very interested in purchasing a good reading copy (it doesn't have to be in collectable condition), if you have one.  Thanks!
The stumper identified as "Hangin' Out With Cici" is - *I* think, Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers. Still in print. :)
Hangin' Out With Cici - I'm going to agree on this ID and disagree with the suggestion of Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers, published Harper 1972. Freaky Friday takes place in the 70s, there is no time travel, and Annabel and her mother switch bodies, rather than being girls together.
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Had to be pre-1985.  This isn't much to go on, but it's worth a try.  My wife remembers a book in which a young girl travels back in time to the World War II era.  There (and then) she meets her mother and apparently learns a great deal.  That's about all I can tell you.  Any auggestions would be great. Additionally, it could be either a children's or a juvenile book.

Hangin' Out With Cici by Francine Pascal, I'm almost certain.
This is a remote possibility since the copyright date is 1988 but this might be The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen.  During the family's Passover Seder, Hannah travels back to WWII Poland and experiences the horror of a concentration camp.  Don't think she meets her mother but she does meet some relative, maybe a great aunt or something.  It's been a while since I read this one but it's a great book.
I think this may be HANGIN' OUT WITH CICI by Francine Pascal, 1977 (republished 1991). Victoria always seems to be in trouble with her mom.
When she travels back in time to 1944, she meets a girl she relates to, one who has streak of rebellion - and finds out it's her mom as a teenager! It was also made into the 1981 ABC Afterschool Special MY MOM WAS NEVER A KID~from a librarian
Just a quick note...I submitted a solved stumper for T241, and in reviewing the new stumper page, noticed that T239 is very likely the same book. Hope
this helps! (Hanging Out with Cici by Francine Pascal.)
Pascal, Francine, Hangin' Out With Cici, 1972.  Victoria goes back in time to 1944, and meets her mother, who is rebellious (I distinctly remember a scene with shoplifting) and otherwise very unlike the adult Cici.
Mabel Esther Allan, Time to Go Back, 1972, copyright'
 comments='Could it possibly be Time to Go Back?  Sarah goes back in time to WW II England where she meets her mother and her family.  Near the end of the story she knows that her aunt is going somewhere where she will be killed by a bomb and can'\''t say anything about it.  It was a very poignant story.
Pascal, Francine, Hangin' out with Cici.  I think that both T239 and T241 might be the same book about the time traveler who meets her mother in the 1940's.  The girl's name is Victoria and she discovers that she and her mother share the same ability to get into trouble.
Just wanted to add that this book has been republished recently under the title My Mother Was Never a Kid.
Mabel Esther Allan, Time to go back, 1972.  Another possibility if your book was set in England - A girl called Sarah from London goes back in time to Liverpool during WW2, and meets her mother (Clemmie), and an aunt (Larke) she never knew who was killed in the bombing. When she tells the story to her mother much later, she is told she was named Sarah after a mysterious stranger who her mother had known in the war - so she was named after herself!
I was the original poster of this stumper.  I was waiting to give the book to my wife as a gift before I could determine whether the query was properly solved.  I gave her the book this weekend and am happy to report that , yes, the solutions posted were absolutely correct!  Another stumper solved.  (-:  Thanks for the help!
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The book was at the local public library, in Liverpool, NY, back in  late 70's early 80's. I am 36 and now live in SC, and would love to read this book that had such an impact on me.The plot of the book is a girl who is not getting along with her mother, and getting into trouble, so her mother sends her on a train to go live with relatives for the summer. Something happens on the train that causes her to hit her head, and when she gets off of the train, she sees a newspaper that has the date as 1950's. She realizes that she has traveled back in time, and is very scared and doesn't know what to do.She meets a girl around her age (I can't remember how) and the girl befriends her and takes her in. Gradually they become really good friends, and the reader learns that the girl is actually her mother when she was young.

Francine Pascal, Hanging Out with Cici, '86.  I remember this book distinctly, I love books about time travel, and I thought this one was done very well. A nice picture of the mother as a child during WWII.
Pascal Francine, Hanging out with Cici, 1977.  This is definitely the book.  It tells the story of Cici who has a typical teenager's relationship with her mother and feels like she doesn't understand what it's like to be young. As the stumper remembers, during a train ride she travels back in time and becomes friends with her mother.  I remember this book because it was the first time I had heard of "penny loafers".  Cici begins to understand that her mother once was young and was probably even a little wilder than she herself is!
Pascal, Francine, Hangin' Out With Cici.  This seems to be the same as T239. Victoria hits her head on a train ride and is sent back in time, where she meets her mother, who, far from the straitlaced adult she will become, is a rebellious girl.
Pascal, Francine, Hangin' out with Cici.  I think that both T239 and T241 might be the same book about the time traveler who meets her mother in the 1940's.  The girl's name is Victoria and she discovers that she and her mother share the same ability to get into trouble.
Just wanted to add that this book has been republished recently under the title My Mother Was Never a Kid.
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Girl bumps head, goes back in time, befriends mother. There might have been a subway involved.  She didn't get along with her mother but becomes best friends with her when she goes back in time to the 50s, I think.

Francine Pascal, Hanging Out with Cici, 1977, copyright.  The author of all the Sweet Valley books wrote this one--the actual title is "Hangin' Out with Cici: or, My Mother was Never a Kid".  Victoria is in huge trouble with the "perfect" mother, who she resents. She bumps her head and ends up on the subway in the 40s with Cici, a kid she really likes. Cici takes her home, where she eventually figures out that Cici is really Cecilia, her mother.
Hanging out with Cici!!!  That's it.  Is it completely ridiculous that I'm sitting here crying?  THANK YOU!!

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Pascal, Francine. Hangin' Out with Cici.  Archway, 1978.  Paperback.  G+.  <SOLD>

W121 Sounds like the voice of Holden Caulfield, could Salinger have written a similar character? ...or Vonnegut?
Sounds like Heller's Catch-22.  I read it in high school and the only thing I remember is some guy sitting in a tree and a discussion of the Army's Catch-22 clause.  You could be released from the Army if you were 'nuts,' but if you were aware that you had psychological problems, then you weren't 'nuts' enough so you could not be released from combat duty.
Could be Catch 22 by Joseph Heller?
Nope, not Catch 22.  Nor Schlessinger, as far as I can find.
Dean Koontz, Hanging On, 1973.  Hillarious book about an Army Engineer unit in WW2 setting. Different than Dean Koontz usual, but with his usual talent. I recommend it for anyone who's been in the service, especially on the ground.

The answer to H30 is HANNIBAL'S ELEPHANTS by Alfred Powers; NY, 1944. The 13 year old boy is named Agenor. The book is 272 pages and is illustrated by James Reid. 

caffrey, nancy, Hanover's Wishing Star 

This is tooo freaky! Ten minutes ago I was hunting for another stumper and looked through a Wide Horizon- Scott Foresman reader and came upon Hans and Peter by Heidrun Petrides. Now I come here and find this query! Wow! It matches!! Hans lives in the attic and only sees roofs- Peter in the basement only sees feet and legs! In the introduction it states this book was written and illustrated by a fifteen year old girl.(English translation, Oxford University Press -1962) It is a stand alone book as well.
Wow!  I have been looking for this book for YEARS!  Thank you to whatever providence led you to the Foresman reader and then to my query!   THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!
I forgot one key piece of information regarding the Wide Horizon reader. It is Book 2 in the series! Sorry for the omission. 

The Thumbelina refrain sparked these remembered lyrics (probably not exact): "Thumbelina, Thumbelina, tiny little thing,/ Thumbelina dance, Thumbelina sing,/ What's the difference, what's the difference, if you're very small?/ For when your heart is full of love, you're nine feet tall." My guess is these come from a Disney recording, because that's what my siblings and I listened to (over and over) as children.  I don't remember a book, though.
T-10  If it helps at all, I remember Danny Kaye told a version of  Thumbelina where the song went: "Thumbelina, Thumbelina, tiny little thing.  Thumbelina dance, Thumbelina sing.  Thumbelina, what's the worry, though you're very small, when your heart is full of love, you're ten feet tall."
T10- I think I have the record you are talking about.  It was my favorite and I have passed it down to my children. However,I don't remember it as a book.  The record is Tina the Ballerina and it came out in the mid 1950's.  It is a 45 R.P.M.  PeterPan record. Tina always wanted to dance and when she the prima ballerina couldn't go on, she got her chance.  The refrain:Tina, the ballerina, the belle of gay Paris; dancing, dancing on her toes, round and round and round she goes...  Hope thishelps.
The song is one from Hans Christian Andersen: the musical. 

B123 birthday plant: perhaps worth looking at The Happy Birthday Present, by Joan Heilbroner, illustrated by Mary Chalmers, published Harper 1962, Weekly Reader I Can Read Book, 63 pages. "Charming tale of little Davy and how he makes the perfect gift for mother's birthday. Two young brothers, Peter and Davy, search all over town for a birthday present for their mother with a dime. At the end, they have a 'happy birthday tree.'"
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a sister and brother don't have money for a gift and end up decorating a plant with paper clips and other found/donated objects.  Monochromatic illustrations, more realistic than cutsey.

Joan Heilbroner.   illustrator Mary Chalmers, The Happy Birthday Present.  I think this is one I had as a child.  The end result involved a pinwheel and a seashell and was hideous, in my opinion!  I remember resenting this book.  The drawings were realistic pencil drawings.
I'm sure that's it!  I remember the shell and pinwheel now.  It may suck, but I remember it fondly.  This is the best $2 I ever spent it's been bothering me for YEARS!  Thanks so much.

Jerry West, The Happy Hollisters,  1953-1970.  Could it be this series?
#F84--Family series:  At least two different authors wrote series about families named the Tuckers, Virginia Baker in the 1940s and Jo Mendel in the early 1960s.  The Tuckers in Baker's books appear to be English and the American editions were published in Chicago by Moody Press.  Mendel's Tuckers appear to be American. Her books were published by Whitman in Racine, Wisconsin, meaning they were those flimsy cardboard hardcovers printed on cheap, quickly-yellowing paper, which wouldn't last long in a library, but many copies can still be found.
Regarding my request F84, I think someone solved it. I went to my local library and checked out several Happy Hollisters books to verify. Although my memory is sketchy, this must be the series I was searching  for; all the pieces fit. In less than one week, a personal mystery has been solved. Thanks for your service! 

I accidentally omitted a critical piece of information - the third character in this book is an old man, a "hobo".
This could be the book The Family Under the Bridge.  I don't remember much about it except there are some homeless children and a hobo who "adopts" them.
Natalie Savage Carlson The Happy Orphelines, Brother for the Orphelines, Family Under the Bridge etc,  The
Hobo, Armand, lives under the bridge in  Paris and carries a large black umbrella.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Carlson, Natalie Savage. The Happy Orpheline.  Illustrated by Garth Williams.  NY: Harper & Row, 1957.  Pictorial boards, bookplate in front free endpaper. Very slight must.  G+/VG.  <SOLD> Carlson, Natalie Savage. The Family Under the Bridge.  Illustrated by Garth Williams.  NY: Harper & Borthers, 1958.  Ex-school-library copy, corners worn, clean interior, green cloth.  Slightly smaller format than other 2 listed for sale here.  G+  $10 Carlson, Natalie Savage. A Brother for the Orphelines.  Illustrated by Garth Williams.  NY: Harper & Brothers, 1959.  Ex-library copy with rear pocket removed, small stain on rear of cover and glue stain on endpapers.  Clean interior, Nice dust jacket.  G+/VG.  $18

Fern G. Brown, Hard Luck Horse, 1975.  This is absolutely the book! I searched for it myself for ages. All I could remember was Woody Dip's name, but I finally found it. The girl's name is Cristi Barnett, and she wants to pay for a lifesaving eye operation for Woody Dip, even though he doesn't belong to her.
I just ordered the book, I can't wait to see her face when she opens it!

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harrison Bergeron, 1961.  Classic SF story.  From Kurt Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House".
Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, 1970.  This sounds like the short story Harrison Bergeron from the book Welcome to the Monkey House.
Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Burgeron.  This science fiction short story was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine in 1961.  It has since been anthologized widely, often for student use.  The following link leads to text online.
Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron, short story. 

Zion, Harry the Dirty Dog. I can't remember details, but this could be the right one.
Zion, Gene, Harry the Dirty Dog, 1956. Could this be Harry the Dirty Dog? A little white dog with black spots runs away from home, gets very VERY dirty until he looks like a little black dog with white spots, and when he comes back home his family doesn't recognize him until they give him a bath.
Marion Beldon Cook, Waggles and the Dog Catcher, 1951. This was originally illustrated by Louis Darling, but the Scholastic paperback that came out later had illustrations by John Peterson that I like better (possibly because they were the ones I knew as a child)

This sounds an awful lot like Harry and the Terrible Whatz-It but I can't seem to locate my copy of the book, so I am not sure of the date, author, or even quite sure how to spell "Whatz-It!"
Harry and the Terrible Whatzit is by Dick Gackenbach (Clarion, 1977.)  The pictures are done in red, brown, and black.  Harry's mom didn't come back up from the cellar so he went downstairs, armed with a broom,  to save her from the double-headed, three-clawed, six-toed, long-horned Whatzit that lives behind the furnace.  When Harry attacked it with his
broom, the Whatzit got smaller and smaller because Harry wasn't afraid of it anymore.  When it was the size of a peanut, Harry sent it to live in the cellar next door because "Sheldon Parker's afraid of everything." 

m64   I'm pretty sure that that they are describing Harvey's Hideout, by Russell Hoban.  See description for H14
Yes!!!  Thank you so much!!!!!!! (Now if only someone remembers my tall ships book stumper .....)
Thanks again!!
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It had a main character (small furry animal) like Frances (of Bread and Jam...), but it is not one of the Frances books in print now.  The main character runs away with a hobo pack (stick with a handkerchief tied on the end). She then makes a house in the dirt and eventually finds another animal is living in a den next to hers.  They have some sort of hole in the dirt between them like a window.  It had black and white illustrations much like Lillian Hobans.  I tried to look in the Library of Congress index, but there were not subject descriptions on a lot of the Hoban books.  Any ideas?

In A Baby Sister for Frances, jealous Frances makes a hobo stick and runs away... underneath the dining room table.  I don't think she even got outside.
Hoban, Harvey's Hideout.  Brother and sister muskrats aren't getting along  they each have a secret hideout and it turns out their places are right next door to each other (brother accidentally tunnels into sister's place).
I wonder if this could be Harvey's Hideout again.  They certainly end up with two burrows close to each other, and ultimately make just one hideout.  The illustrations are Hoban, but I don't know about the hobo stick as I don't have the book any longer.  The submitter might want to read the solved listing as well as the stumper listed as H14 with lots of plot details to see if it sounds familiar.
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I am looking for a book that I have described to all my siblings and several bookstore clerks, but no one seems to remember. I can see the illustrations in my mind so I really don't think I'm making this book up.  I think I read it in the early 1960s when I was a little girl.  The illustrations are very similar to Bread and Jam for Frances.  So the illustrator must be LILLIAN HOBAN or maybe Russell Hoban.  The story is about two muskrat/otter/beaver/badger siblings--a brother and a sister.  They are not getting along well.  They both tell each other that they are going to their own private, secret clubhouses and Nya-nya-nya who needs you anyway?!  The mother calmly packs them each a lunch IN A PLASTIC BAG and they swim across a river WITH THEIR PLASTIC LUNCH BAGS IN THEIR MOUTHS.  As it turns out there is no one else at the brother's underground clubhouse but him.  I remember a CALENDAR hanging on the clubhouse wall with a picture of an INDIAN muskrat/badger/otter/beaver on it.  The boy feels sad.  Next door there is no one else at the sister's underground clubhouse either.  She has some girly things in there, maybe a muskrat/beaver/otter dolly, some flowers, and a tea set.  She is lonesome and begins to cry.  They didn't realize that their clubhouses were right next door to each other.  I think the brother hears the sister begin to cry.  They tear down the adjoining wall and make one big clubhouse and are happy to play together in their new secret club.  This book reminds me of my younger brother and me, the two youngest of five children.  I would love to find it.  My parents have died and we did not come across this mysterious book as we sorted through their estate.

H14 is HARVEY'S HIDEOUT  by Russell Hoban  It was was my little brother's favorite book.  I don't know why, I was a very nice big sister.
This sounds like Harvey's Hideout again.  Check H14 for description in Stump the Bookseller and in solved mysteries.
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This was a title I read in 1970's.  It was about a family of beavers or muskrats???  There was a brother and sister and I remember the sister was going to a party so she had to put her dress in a plastic bag so she could go to the party.  I think this is an illustration I remember.  I don't recall the plot.

B83 sounds like Harvey's Hideout, by Russell Hoban.  There is a better description somewhere in Stump the Bookseller.
Harvey's Hideout.This is definitely Harvey's Hideout. Another one of my favorite books! I remember the part about his sister going to a party and putting her dress in a plastic bag and carrying it in her mouth when she swam accross the stream. Other plot points: Harvey doesn't get along with his sister and finds an old hole in the
ground which he makes into his "hideout". He cooks there, I think bacon and eggs. She eventually finds out about it. They become friends in the end. Hope this helps!
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I am 35 years old and enjoyed this picture book as a child. I believe the cover is primarily dark blue. The story is about a brother beaver and sister beaver (named Mildred??). At least I think they were beavers. The brother builds a raft. The sister has a tea party in a cave and wears a fancy dress. No one comes to her party. Her brother shows up and they quarrel. He throws dirt at her, messes up her dress and makes her cry. At around the same time period I was also enjoying the books "Miss Suzy" and "Never Tease a Weasel". I just cannot remember the name of this book or its author. Can you help?

Sounds like Harvey's Hideout by Russell and Lillian Hoban.  See more on Solved Mysteries.

I found mention that the story "Good Morning Herr Muller" could be found in Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach, but could find no further information.
J37: Yaffa Eliach, Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, 1982 (pb reprint 1988).  Alternate spelling: Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust

So, I managed to solve my own question with one of the paypal queries I sent you earlier today, regarding the Italian story of the fellow who had a false leg with a wheel. It is "The Hat," by Tomi Ungerer, 1970.  Thanks, though!  Have a nice coffee beverage on me.

There was a famous Nip and Tuck book in the 30's...  look on the Solved Mysteries page under Nip and Tuck to see if that's the one.
N37 Hadn't thot of it for yrs, but it was always one of my favorite books from 75 years ago. By Caroline Emerson, Oh, I
DO have it here behind me on my daughter's old bookshelves. A hat-tub tale. Dutton c1928 1st ed 1928 Sorry to make you
drool I see 3 requests for it on ABE's want list. Does customer live anywhere near central WA state - to come read it -
or to photocopy it?

B367 Could it be Hattie instead of Batty? I've sold my copy of Don Freeman's Hattie the Backstage Bat which was a Viking Seafarer paperback
I'll bet you're right!
Don Freeman, Hattie the Backstage Bat, 1970.  Hattie the bat lives in a theater. I'm pretty sure the cover was blue and pictured the bat flying around.
thanks for finding a solution! i've been looking for the book off and on for probably 15 years. i looked up the title on ebay and found a picture and it is indeed the book i remember. I must have called it batty because of the bat and since it was so close to hattie.  thanks again.

F146 possibly  Kjelgaard, Jim.  Haunt fox.  illus by Glen Rounds.  Holiday House, 1954.  I've just skimmed the book. Fox is a 6-toed one, named Star. Father and son, Jeff and Jack, as well as a bounty trapper, named Dade, hunt him. After a year, Jack finds the fox in one of Dade's traps. Instead of shooting him, he decides to free him  from the trap, and let him go [and pay Dade the money he would have made on him.]

Could the two siblings maybe be five siblings? If so, it might be one of the Happy Hollisters series (I think they are from the 1950's)
Margaret Sutton, The Haunted Attic.  This is the second book in the Judy Bolton series, which is a Nancy Drew-like series. Judy and her family have just moved into the house, which was given to them as a reward (Judy's brother Horace warned the town they originally came from that a dam was going to break in the first book in the series.) Horace discovers the haunted sounds are caused by the branch of an old tree scraping against a window, a parrot (now dead), and a white cat he names ghost. But there is more to the haunting than that, and it's Judy who finally puts all the pieces together. The house is on the dividing line between the rich part of town and the poor part of town, and Judy's rich friends don't approve of her making friends with the mill-working girls on the other side.
Margaret Sutton, The Haunted Attic.  Thankyou for all the help! This one is solved!!

H144 It's been a while since I read it, but it might be worth looking into THE HAUNTED CHURCHBELL by Barbara Ninde Byfield~from a librarian
Barbara Ninde Byfield, The Haunted Churchbell, 1971.  What a wonderful little mystery book! Thanks to the tipster who correctly solved my own little mystery. This is a wonderful book for kids 7-9 years old.

Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove.  Definitely! The last line: "Why should I be? She's my great grandmother, and it's her organ."(speaking of Theodora Zagrodzky)
Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove. (1971)  This is definitely the book being sought---I remember it from my own childhood!  Twelve year old Kevin MacAlastaire and his ten year old sister Christie spend the summer holiday in a seaside cottage in Oregon. They meet a mysterious local girl named Mora, who tells them ghostly tales about the haunted cove.  The mansion on the cliff above the cove is apparently inhabited by a flute playing three eyed witch.  Every day at sunset, the witch stands on a rock in the ocean and charms the local marine life with her music.  The three children eventually learn that the woman is Theodora Zagrodsky, a very talented musician who wears a jewel on her forehead that looks very much like a third eye.  Followed by a sequel, The Treasure of Kilvarra (1974): While visiting Ireland, eleven-year-old Christie fulfills a prophecy and finds a treasure.
The Haunted Cove.  THATS IT!!!  Thank you so much!  I had given up hope of ever finding that book again.  Also, I didn't know there was a sequal, so I will have to find that as well.  Again, THANK YOU
Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove.  This should be moved to the solved section. I have this book in my possetion and there is no mistaking the last line or the plot. I was always one of my favorites!
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read in the early 1970's. This was a book about some children (don't remember how many or their names) tnat were on summer vacation to the ocean (I think the east coast).  There was a large, apparently deserted mansion that the children thought a witch lived in.  There was a large whirlpool, and cemetery close to the house. The children had to climb out on a dangerous point and under a chainlink fence to get to this house.  I also think they believed the witch had turned someone into one of the monuments in the graveyard.  The story ended with the house actually being a hideout for robbers or something other than a witch.  I checked this book out from a small elementary school library in Missouri--if that helps.

Kin Platt, Mystery of the Witch Who Wouldn't, 1969.  This sounds very much like one of the Sinbad and Steve mysteries written by Kin Platt.  I'm not sure I'm matching the right title to the plot though.  Steve, his bulldog Sinbad, and his friend/enemy Minerva, the sheriff's daughter solve mysteries.  In this particular title, they save an old lady who has the reputation of being a witch from a group of criminals who are trying to steal her land.  Some of the other titles are Sinbad & Me, The Ghost of Hellsfire Street and The Blue Man.  Good luck!
Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove.  Again! See solved stumpers.
Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove, 1971.  This is one of my all time favorite books from my childhood, The Haunted Cove by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton. Note that there are two different cover art versions for this book...one, by Xerox Family Educational Services, is sort of dark blue and creepy looking, showing two children running away from a dark house. The other, by American Education Publishers/Weekly Reader Books, is "sunny" in comparison, predominantly light green, with the two children climbing the promontory above the cove. There was also a second book with the same children (1974 Xerox publishing, only one cover) called Treasure of Kilvarra, in which the siblings have mysterious adventures in Ireland.
Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, The Haunted Cove, 1971.  Thank you so much--this is certainly the book I was looking for.  When I looked back in the archive I found this puzzle already solved, but with an entirely different set of details from the book that I had completely forgotten. I think it is amazing how certain images from a book that I read 30 years ago can remain so vivid in my mind.  From the requests that I have read on your site, I see that my experience is not an infrequent occurrence.  I wonder if authors realize what an impression they can make on young minds.  I am most grateful to them all for sharing their stories and imaginations with us. I also thank you for this wonderful website.

Edward Gorey, Amphigorey, Amphigorey Too, Amphigorey Also,  earyl 1980s.  If the illustrations could be drawings rather than photographs, this description has Edward Gorey written all over it.
the book was NOT edward gorey.  It was absolutely black and white  photos for sure.  I think that's what freaked me out so much, because  she was a real girl.
Bruce McMillan, Ghost Doll, 1983.  Maybe???  "In a rare blend of suspense and wonder, Bruce McMillan has captured, in these evocative black-and-white photographs, all the timeless mystery of a little girl's love for a special doll."  Photographed in an old mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine, this short but eerie story has a surprise ending for Chrissy and all the young people who read it.
Terry Berger, The haunted dollhouse, 1982.  Or..."On her thirteenth birthday, Sarah wakes up inside the mysterious Victorian dollhouse she has wished for, and spends the day there alone in an atmosphere of doom."  Illustrated with photographs by Karen Coshof.  (Some color illustrations.)
yes...  I think its the haunted dollhouse (by terry berger)  I'd have  to see the cover to know for sure though.
thanks so much for id'ing that book.  Sorry, I was so jazzed, I bought a copy yesterday from [big bad competition]!

Just a note if you're searching for "pot licker", Yankees! We either spell it "pot likker" if we're feeling quaint or "pot liquor" if we ain't!
White, Robb, Haunted Hound.  NY Doubleday 1950.  "The hard-to-find story of a lonely boy named Jonathan and a black-and-white hound dog named Pot Likker." The cover is red with an illustration of the dog. Someone else looking for it said the dog liked to jump on trains, but I haven't read it so I don't know. The story opens "Jonathan Barrett put the report card and the note from his teacher between the pages of his arithmetic book. As he walked slowly through the schoolyard he felt hopeless. And lonely. For a little while, as he walked across the school playground, he wondered what his father was going to say about the report card. But, as Jonathan turned and started down the avenue, he knew that his father wouldn't say much, if anything. He never did. he just looked for a long time at the red F's Jonathan made and then looked away."

The Haunted Spy by Barbara Ninde Byfield, 1969  A spy retires to a castle in the country, only to discover it is haunted by a ghost (in one picture he is shown rowing in a small boat with the  ghost to get to the treasure)
Hi, I came across your site and just had to read some of the stumpers. See, I'm a children's librarian and stumpers are my favorite (although they can drive me insane at times!) I had to send you the answers to some of your posted stumpers- The stumper about the castle, crypt, spy, ghost, dog: It's THE HAUNTED SPY by Barbara Ninde Byfield (1969). And your customer might be interested to know there were sequels (THE HAUNTED TOWER, THE HAUNTED GHOST, THE HAUNTED CHURCHBELL) although I myself think THE HAUNTED SPY is the best one. 

Shirreffs, Gordon D., The Haunted Treasure of Espectros.  Chilton 1962.  I believe this is on your Solved list - there can't be too many teen mysteries where canned peaches play a role! Gordon D. Shirreffs, Mystery of the Haunted Mine, 1970, reprint.  Copyright 1961--Formerly The Haunted Treasure of the Espectros  From the back cover: "Somewhere in those canyons is a fortune .... The Indians say it is guarded by ghosts -- but Gary and Tuck refuse to believe that ghosts use live ammunition!"  Tuck's cousin Sue is in the story also.
I am very sure you are thinking of Mystery Mountain by Florence Laughlin. (1964)
The Haunted Treasure of Espectros.  Thanks for this information. This sounds like it right down to the names of the kids. Who would have thought the canned peaches thing would be the tip-off? Thanks again for solving this 20-year-old mystery for me.
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This is a story of legendary lost treasure in the mountains.  There are two antagonistic groups searching for it, including the main characters of the story who as I recall where a boy and a girl.  The most memorable detail that I can recall was the legend of the recluse that had found the treasure and then disappeared years before.  He had been well known for his favorite food, soda crackers and canned cling peaches.  During the course of the story, a mummified body is discovered in a cave and identified as the recluse as it was found among an old stockpile of the before mentioned food.  This book was published by Scholastic, I believe.

Shirreffs, Gordon D., The Haunted Treasure of Espectros.  This one keeps popping up, doesn't it?  And it's the peaches that give it away no matter how else the book is described.
Shirreffs, Gordon Donald, Original Title:The Haunted Treasure of the Espectros Retitled: Mystery of the Haunted Mine, 1962.  This book is in the Solved Mysteries pages under "H" for The Haunted Treasure of Espectros, the original title, and "M" for Mystery of the Haunted Mine, the reprint title.  You can read descriptions of the plot on both pages, and you can see the book's cover on this website.  I have not read this book, but it was published by Scholastic and both of the Solved Mysteries pages describe the canned peaches.
Gordon Shirreffs, Mystery of the Haunted Mine. I loved this when I was a kid- it was originally published as The haunted treasure of the Espectros. Shirreffs also wrote Rio Bravo, and other Westerns.
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This book was read to me in fourth grade in 1971.  My memory of it is pretty weak at this point.  The name "The Lost Expectros" (I am not sure of the spelling) had somthing to do with the book, but I now know it wasn't in the title.  It may have been the name of a mountain range the book was set in or around.  I remember it being about two boys trying to solve a mystery or find treasure, a mine, or "the lost expectros"?  It was set in the west or southwest.  I remember one part about them having to swim under a submerged ledge in to get from one area to another.  I don't remember if this was in a cave or not.  It was not a picture book, it was a longer book and I think it was an older book as well.  Unfortunately, at this time, "The Lost Expectros" is the main thing I remember, I just don't remember what exactly it had to do with the book.

Shirreffs, Gordon Donald, The Haunted Treasure of Espectros, 1962.  Reprinted as Mystery of the Haunted Mine.  Please see the "Solved Mysteries" pages under H and M for more information.
Shirreffs, Gordon D., Haunted Treasure of Espectros / Mystery of the Haunted Mine.  OK, they didn't mention peaches this time, but it's got to be the right book.
Shirreffs, Gordon D, The Haunted Treasure of Espectros.  Here it is again. This must be a memorable book!
Gordon D. Shirreffs, The Haunted Treasure of the Espectros, 1962.  This one is on the Solved Mysteries page.  It was apparently retitled "Mystery of the Haunted Mine" in later editions.  It is about a boy named Gary and his best friend Tuck who set out to find a lost treasure on an allegedly haunted mountain.
Shirreffs, Gordon D., The Haunted Treasure of Los Espectros, (Mystery of the Haunted Mine).  NY Chilton 1962.  I believe this is on the solved pages already, with mention of both the original and the Scholastic titles. Lost Expectros sounds a good deal like Los Espectros.

Vivien Alcock, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer, 1980.  This is it - I just read it.  "Thirteen-year-old Cassie Palmer, the seventh child of a seventh child, has inherited the gift of second sight. Unsure whether or not she even believes in ghosts, Cassie heads to the cemetery to test her ability to communicate with the Other World. She starts with the departed spirit of a harmless child: CHARLOTTE EMMA ELIZABETH WEBB, BORN 1840 DIED 1847. But when a mysterious man appears, Cassie finds a new companion. Is he a gravedigger? A bum? Or did Cassie's inexperience cause her to bring back Charlotte's frightening neighbor: DEVERILL 1720 - 1762?"
Vivien Alcock, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer,1980.  Definitely.  The requester even got the protagonist's name right!
Vivien Alcock, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer
Vivien Alcock, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer, 1980.  Thank you so much!  That's it.  I can't believe that I couldn't remember the name.  Now I can go find it!  This is such a wonderful site and such a wonderful service.  Thank you for helping me remember this book!!!
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A book about a girl who lives with a lot of relatives and her mother who works from home as a fortune teller but the girl knows it's all a hoax, her mother doesn't have 'the gift', but the girl does because she's the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter or 14th of a 14th.. something like that. I read it in the mid 80's but have no idea about an author or title.

Hey, me again, i was searching the archives and found the book i was looking for. "the haunting of cassie palmer" the new cover design is what threw me off, it was done in 1990!  Thanks for such a wonderful helpful site, but you don't have to post my query.
Posted anyway, in case someone else happens to be looking for a good book!

Dorthy Francis, The ghost of graydon place, 1982.  main character is tracy.  She and her friends get snowed in the Graydon mansion.  She has a visit from victoria Graydon, a ghost girl from another century.  Victoria says she can't rest because she murdered her sister.
Karleen Bradford, The Haunting at Cliff House, 1985.  This takes place in an old house, not an inn, but Alison, the protagonist, does find a diary belonging to a long-dead girl (Bronwen) behind a brick in the fireplace.  The two girls (living and ghost) are the same age, and are facing many of the same problems.  Hope this helps!
It's been solved!  The book is titled The Haunting of Cliff House by Karleen Bradford (1985 Scholastic).  If you can find a copy, I would love to buy one. 

F5 - This has some similarities to Jean Little's Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird where it is a boy who has to come to terms with his father's cancer and death, and a girl who wears odd clothes that help him do so.
F5--Just wanted to say "Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird" is a novel which would have been published quite some time after this short story.
Not too sure, but - THE HAUNTING OF JULIE UNGER by Valerie Lutters, NY, Atheneum 1977, 193 pgs, cloth. "Julie finds she is living in Maine with the ghost of her beloved father, a ghost she has built out of love & guilt. The wild geese, an old neighbor & a boy with a dog help her back into life with the living." Julie isn't exactly an unusual name though, so I'm not too certain about this.

Farjeon, Eleanor, Faithful Jenny Dove. 1930s, reprinted 1950s. This was the title story in a short story collection by E F - it may well have been anthologised separately - girl ghost waits in the lane where she promised
to meet lover who has gone away, and meets another ghost instead.
Hi!  I wanted to let you know how thankful I am for your site.  I posted a stumper to your website a long while back & someone finally replied that one of the stories in my stumper was "Faithful Jenny Dove" by Elanor Farjeon.  I had to let you know how imensely it helped.  I got my local library to search for anthologies w/H.G. Well's "The Magic Shop" and "Faithful Jenny Dove" in them & they found my long lost anthology!  It is titled Haunting Tales edited by Barbara Ireson and published in 1973 and even has illustrations by Freda Woolf.  If you ever have a reasonable copy in your shop, you have a customer!

Sounds like The Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck (see Solved Mysteries). The 1978 Disney movie was "Child of Glass."
Thanks for the info - but the book is not The Ghost Belonged to Me. In my book, the girl died in a fire -  not murdered. Also, I believe the book was part of series in which the ghost does a good deed each book for one her relatives. Thanks for your help though!
Emily Cates, Haunting with Louisa trilogy, 1990, approximately.  Almost sure this is it.  Dee, a girl of 13 whose mother has just died, is sent to live with her aunt, an innkeeper on a small island.  Dee discovers a ghost girl named Louisa Lockwood in her room  Louisa and her family died in a fire in the 1800s and Louisa must help four Lockwood relatives before she can rejoin her family.  Titles are The Ghost in the Attic, The Mystery of Misty Island Inn, and The Ghost Ferry.
Thank you so much! These are the books I have been looking for! I am so excited - I have been looking for years. I cannot stress how much I appreciate all of the help. Thanks!!!!

M. Masters, Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams in...  1983-1985.  There were about 12 or 14 books in this "Can You Solve the Mystery?" series about a blonde, bespectacled boy named Hawkeye Collins and a redheaded girl named Amy Adams.  Amy solved mysteries based on Hawkeye's drawings of the crime scenes.  The reader was invited to try to solve the mysteries before seeing the solution, which could be read using a mirror.  Each title in the series contained eight to ten different mystery stories, and I am afraid I do not know which title contained the "Tomato Stealer" story.  I also do not recall Amy being called "Spitfire", but it is quite possible.  The first title in the series was "Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams in the Secret of the Long Lost Cousin and Other Mysteries".
M Masters, Hawkeye Collins & Amy Adams in the case of the video game smugglers & other mysteries, 1983.  I'm not sure if this is the exact title but the description fits one of the Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams mysteries.  Hawkeye always carried the sketch pad and made drawings that helped to solve the mystery.  The answers to the mini-mysteries were always printed backwards in the back of the book so that you had to hold it up to a mirror to read the answers.
Masters M, Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams mysteries (series title: can you solve the mystery?), 1980s.  These are the Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams mysteries.  All titles begin Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams in the case of the... and include: The case of the kidnapped brain (1983) The case of the chocolate snatcher (1983)  The case of the video game smugglers (1983) The case of the mysterious dognappers;  The mystery of the haunted house; The case of the double alibi (1985)  the case of the clever marathon cheat (1985).

Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  Not sure but the title ties in perfectly with the description and the fact that you can't find the book. It's somewhat hard-to-find.
Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  Sounds like a plausible title, though I haven't read it. Other possibilities include Lost Hill, O the Brave Music, Beyond the Gates, Huffley Fair, Proud Citadel, Brief Flower, or My Lamp is Bright.
I could only find 3 books that Smith wrote in the 40's - O, the Brave Music (1943), Proud Citadel (1947), and My Lamp is Bright (1949).  Her other books were written in the 50's & 60's.
Dorothy Evelyn Smith, He Went for a Walk, 1954.  This sounds like it might be the book I'm looking for.  The other Smith book , O,The Brave Music is definitely not the one--it is my favorite book and I still own it, and the others don't sound right.  So I hope He Went for a Walk is correct.  I'm ordering it anyway.  Thanks again. 

Headless Cupid

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. The Headless Cupid.  When Amanda comes to live with her new stepfamily she creates quite a stir with her interest in the occult, her weird hairdos and clothes and the triangle on her forehead.  This book is the first of a series of adventures of the Stanley family.
Amanda with a mirror triangle in forehead: The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  At least three sequels don't quite live up to the original, but are fun to read.
Zilpha Keatly Snyder, The Headless Cupid. 1975, approximate. Amanda is very unhappy about her mother''s divorce and subsequent remarriage, so she wraps herself up in occult studies and even invents a poltergeist with which to frighten her new family.  She wears a little mirrored triangle on her forhead and calls it her  "third eye".  She also wears her hair in many tiny braids and wears witchy looking clothes.  There is a mystery involving a headless cupid in the story.
I'll add my voice to the likely chorus - probably The Headless Cupid, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, published Atheneum 1971, where proto-goth Amanda joins the Stanley family and tries to make herself special by conducting seances, claiming to be psychic, etc. "When the four Stanley children meet Amanda, their new step-sister, they're amazed to learn that she studies witchcraft. They're stunned to see her dressed in a strange costume, carrying a pet crow, and surrounded by a pile of books about the supernatural. It's not long before Amanda promises to give witchcraft lessons to David, Janie, and the twins. But that's when strange things start happening in their old house. David suspects Amanda of causing mischief, until they learn that the hosue really was haunted a long time ago. Legend has it that a ghost cut the head off a wooden cupid on the stairway. Has the ghost returned to strike?"
a Newberry Honor Book, 1972.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley.  Headless Cupid.  Illustrated by Alton Raible.  Dell Publishing: a Yearling paperback, 1971.  1985  printing. Signed by Snyder on a sticker placed on front free endpaper: "From one author to another."  Corner tab of front free endpaper is clipped.  VG.  $20 Snyder, Zilpha Keatley.  Headless Cupid.  Illustrated by Alton Raible.  NY: Atheneum, 1971.  Hardback early edition.  Slight stain on title page and ex-library copy with usual marks.  G/G.  $10

Patricia Hermes, Heads I Win,  1989.
Hermes, Patricia, Heads, I Win, 1988.  "There's something for you in the freezer," she said.  ....  "Go look."   I crossed the kitchen and opened the top part of the refrigerator, the freezer part.  It was packed -- packed full -- with boxes and boxes and boxes of frozen macaroni and cheese.  There must have been fifty boxes in there!I turned around to her.  "For me?" I said.  And knew it was a stupid question.  Ms. Henderson nodded.  "For winning.  I was pretty sure you'd win."  "But there's so many here!" I said.  "Well," Ms. Henderson said, "you're going to be here for a long time."
Patricia Hermes, Heads, I Win, 1989.  I went to [that big megalithic online seller] and read the comments to make sure this was the book. I ordered a copy this morning. Thanks for the help!

??, Heads Up! (at least in Scholastic edition), c. 1960.  I'm 99% certain of the title on this, but my copy's been in storage for 10 years and inaccessible at the moment.  It *may* have had a different title originally (I seem to remember one of those notices in parentheses on the cover.)  I do recall it was one of the Scholastic Book Services paperbacks I bought in elementary school.  The girl's name was Peg or Peggy, and either the family or
their son (or both) were called Tuck, short for Tucker.  I think the horses were referred to as "Liberty" horses -- one of the tricks may have involved standing on the horse's back  posing as the Statue of Liberty.  Good luck -- hope this helps.
Patsey Gray, Heads Up!, 1961.  This is definitely the book.  A summary I found online told about the story exactly as I remembered.  Thanks to the person who wrote in with the title so that Iwas able to look it up.
O19 orphan rodeo: more on the suggested, Heads Up, by Patsey (Patricia) Gray, illustrated by Leonard Shortall, published Coward-McCann 1956, reprinted Scholastic 1961, 191 pages. "a girl and a horse have their problems but amidst a setting of California State Fairs and horse shows, they are straightened out with a healthy realism" ... "story of little-known life behind the scenes of horse shows and fairs and the sensible handling of a warm family relationship" ... "seems improbable that a girl of ten would be allowed by the authorities to sleep by herself in a stable". None of which really confirms anything, though.

Martha Reben, The Healing Woods, 1952.  "Author chose to return to nature and the woods as a last resort to gain back her health. The story of how she found peace and health in the quiet of the Adirondack mountains and the friendliness of the wildlife." Sounds like it's right on the money.
A136 Reben, Martha.  The healing woods. illus by Fred Collins. Crowell, 1952. Saranac Lake; New York State.

T.A. Barron, Heartlight,1990. Kate's astrophysicist grandfather, using his discovery of the relationship of light to the human soul, travels through the universe in search of a cure for Earth's dying sun. Following him to the star Trethoniel on the back of a giant butterfly, Kate becomes caught up in a dangerous and wonderful adventure in the end it is not science, but human love, that triumphs over the Darkness. Barron relies heavily on description, which tends to slow the movement of the plot. Characters are not sufficiently developed for a story with only two human protagonists. Given the book's blend of science fiction and Christian ethos, comparison with the work of Madeleine L'Engle is inevitable.
Ray Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder. There is, of course, the famous short story by Ray Bradbury that involves time travel and a butterfly: It's not a book - but sometimes the memories can get hazy...
Jay Williams, Magic Grandfather. Not sure if this is it or not, it has a grandson instead a girl and I don't know about the butterflies but they are pictured on the cover
Heartlight.

Hearts in Trim
In the mid-sixties, I belonged to a book club called Best Loved Girls Books, and I have been trying to find some of these wonderful books again. I can't remember any of the titles, and there was one in particular which is driving me crazy.  The main character was a girl named Squeak.  The story centered around an elderly and wealthy neighbor of Squeak's who had died and left her property to a relative who was an actress.  Part of the woman's estate consisted of a huge personal library, which was of great interest to Squeak.  I remember that Squeak had a younger brother, Johnny I think was his name, and two older sisters, one of them preparing for her wedding.  Do you have any idea what the title of this book could be?

S76 Squeak and S83 Shakespearean treasure hunt sound similar (can you say that 5 times fast?)
This is Hearts in Trim by Lavinia R. Davis.
Davis, Lavinia R Hearts in TrimNew York, Doubleday 1954, "Serena Bruce, commonly known as Squeak, learns that old Mrs. Frostgate has left her a legacy. They begin to organize the books for selling and try to unravel the mystery of a glamorous actress who had settled in the village." "Serena and Cliff find themselves in hot water when they set about making the most of an unexpected legacy. Ages 12-16."
Davis, Lavinia R. Hearts in Trim New York. Doubleday 1954, "Serena Bruce, commonly known as Squeak learns that old Mrs. Frostgate has left her a legacy. They begin to organize the books for selling and try to unravel the mystery of a glamorous actress who had settled in the village." "Serena and Cliff find themselves in hot water when they set about making the best of an unexpected legacy."

David Almond, Heaven Eyes. Three "damaged children", orphans or foundlings, run away on a make-shift raft, and run ashore on the Black Middens, and are found by the mysterious Heaven Eyes, and her strange granpa, and are introduced to their wierd, out-of-synche world
David Almond, Heaven Eyes, 2001.  Thank you! I am quite sure this is the book I was looking for. The title sounds like the kind of thing I'd gravitate to and pick up -- likewise the cover. I remembered flipping through it at Borders when it came out, and thinking I would look for it at the library, but neglected to write down the author or title. I have requested a hold on it at the library, and with that, I consider this mystery solved. Thank you once again and thank you to Loganberry!

HECKEDY PEG! I solved my stumper, shortly after I posted this! oops! oh well..I'm glad I found it! I think Heckedy peg was already submitted, but it didnt ring a bell when I read it, I know remember, yes the children all had different names of the week. I found it through the library of congress, all I did was enter, "mother child witch" under keynotes, and I found it! yippee!!
Iona and Peter Opie, Childrens Games in Street and Playground,  1969.  This is unlikely to be the actual book that you read  but it does describe the story as a traditional British folkstory/ acting game. It is described under the heading "Mother, the Cake is Burning" (pp. 317-329  see especially pp. 323-325). 

Keith Robertson, Henry Reed's Journey, 1963.  This is a definite answer to this stumper!!  This is one of my all time favorite children's books!! There are four Henry Reed books this is the second in the series. Henry has lived overseas his whole life and come to spend the summers with his aunt and uncle in New Jersey. He travels across the U.S. with his friend Midge Glass and parents in order to experience the U.S.
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A young male (Henry?) has an engineering bent, but he is interested in being an entomologist. He meets a girl (with a "turned-up nose") who asks him--as she nibbles an apple-- does he plan to do *pure* research or *applied* research? The town buys a big metal swimming pool but it won't be available for use on the promised grand opening date of 4th of July because the crane needed to lower it into the already-dug hole is unavailable.  The boy becomes a hero when he thinks to put ice in the hole and slide the pool onto the ice.  When the ice melts, the pool will sink gently into the hole (he learned this from a Hopi Indian trick in which a metal container of burning material sinks magically into the ground).  A man, upon hearing the idea, says "Blast it Henry, when are you going to quit chasing butterflies and study engineering?" Henry is honored to be the first to jump into the pool, but forgets to test the water...it is cold from the ice, brrr!!!!  He wavers on whether to go public with the source of his inspiration.  The girl objects to him telling, saying "The Hopis couldn't have done that trick before white men provided them with ice."

I wonder whether this is one of the Henry Reed books by Keith Robertson, illustrated by Robert McCloskey.  There are five titles in the series: Henry Reed, Inc. (1958), Henry Reed's Journey (1963), Henry Reed's Baby-Sitting Service (1966), Henry Reed's Big Show (1970), and Henry Reed's Think Tank (1986).  I haven't read them all, so I can't be sure, but the descriptions of Henry and his friend Midge certainly sound appropriate!
Keith Robertson, Henry Reed series.  The scene where Henry meets Midge, the girl with the apple ('pure or applied research?') is in Henry Reed, Inc.  The swimming-pool scene may be in another book in the series- or perhaps in the Homer Price series?
Robertson, Keith, Henry Reed's Journey.  The story of Henry's journey across the U.S. with his friend Midge and her parents.  The incidents of the Hopi Indians and the swimming pool definitely match!
Keith Robertson, Henry Reed, Inc.,   Henry's Reed's Babysitting Service, Henry Reed's Journey.  This is from the Henry Reed series by Keith Robertson.  Henry and his friend Midge Glass have a series of adventures in Grovers' Corner, New Jersey.  Henry is quite brainy, if a little square, due to his years as an expat (his dad is in the Foreigh Service.)  each book is presented as Henry's journal, composed for the edification of his European classmates.  I remember the pool sequence -- it's not in Henry Reed, Inc. -- I think it might be in the Journey one (Henry travels out West with the Glass family.)  All three are very funny.
Keith Robertson, Henry Reed, Inc./Henry Reed's Journey(?), 1958/1963.  Could this be a conflation of two or more of Keith Robertson's Henry Reed books?  I haven't read "Journey," but I have seen plot summaries which mention the Hopis.  I have a copy of Henry Reed, Inc.  The description of the girl matches that of Margaret "Midge" Glass:  "She had a small face which was covered with freckles and light blue eyes that didn't miss a thing.  She was nibbling on an apple like a little rabbit.  If she hadn't had such a sharp-pointed nose, she would have looked like a rabbit too" (pp. 42-43).  On Page 44, she asks Henry whether he intends to pursue pure or applied research.  Midge is a character in all five Henry Reed books.  The only discrepancy is that Henry and Midge keep larger animals (rabbits, turtles, pigeons, and a dog) rather than insects, but Henry's mother did keep bees (p. 31).
KEITH ROBERTSON,