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E1--Sounds as though it may be The Secret of Crossbone Hill by Wilson Gage.
I don't want to be discouraging, but I also don't want to see someone go off on the wrong track. I read The Secret of Crossbone Hill over the weekend and I don't think it's the solution to the book described. The Secret of Crossbone Hill is about a brother and sister, spending their summer at the beach in South Carolina with their bird-watching mom and researcher dad, who think they've found a pirate's treasure map woven into a bird's nest. They go through a series of adventures before they find out it's actually a map showing where a certain kind of rare bird is nesting. The box they find containing what they think is treasure contains undeveloped film, lost by an old man whose hobby is bird-watching and who has been photographing the birds.
I'n not a 100% sure, but E1 sounds vaguely like one of the Happy Hollister books, The Happy Hollisters and the Sea Turtle Mystery.  All the details don't exactly match, but the time would be right. The six siblings, boys and girls, are visiting in Florida and solve a mystery on Sanibel and Captiva islands. It involves Indians, and criminals who try to scare the children away.  I don't think there were any skulls involved.
Might this be The Secret Raft by Krantz?
A few possibilities to add to the mix: Barbour, Ralph Henry, Mystery on the Bayou NY Appleton-Century 1943, hardcover, 237 pages, illustrated by Thomas McGowan. Sackett, Bert, Hurricane Treasure: the Secret of Injun Key Random House 1945, 298pp. adventure story, juvenile mystery, "novel set in the Florida Keys Novel of a boy trying to save his father's land in the Florida Everglades. Map endpapers" Though the boys here look too old to be frightened off by a skull. Urmston, Mary, Swamp Shack Mystery NY Doubleday 1959 illustrated by Grace Paull, "Further adventures of the Arnold children; Roger, Clayt, Dunc, Red, Mark, Linda and Judy." juvenile mystery
Yet another possibility: The Secret of Mound Key by Robert F. Burgess, illustrated by Vic Donahue, published Cleveland, World 1966 "A hunt for buried pirate's treasure leads two boys into adventure they never expected. The exotic swamplands, shell islands and blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico offer adventures of their own. An unusual story of Florida coastal waters. Ages 9-12." (Horn Book Feb/66 publishers ad p.105) More on The Secret Raft by Hazel Krantz, illustrated by Charles Geer, published by Vanguard 1966, 190 pages "Opens as an everyday adventure story of scatterbrained, impulsive Howie Blake and his friends the Matson twins. Starting with an early morning jaunt to see a sunrise on the river, the 3 children discover what they believe to be a trio of foreign agents. On a home-made raft they trail their quarry up the river into the forbidden, dangerous swampland, only to find that their 'spies' are actually a professor with two medical students engaged in antibiotic research on an uninhabited island. Later the children return and help with some of the chores; they are introduced to the painstaking methods of scientific investigation and the joys of eventual success."
Same as C56?    Zapf, Marjorie. The Mystery of the Great Swamp

I wonder if E2 could be The Garden Behind the Moon by Howard Pyle.
This wasn't a Howard Pyle book.  It was a picture book, and the illustrations were in bright primary
colors.  I remember the boy went to bed, and the elf woke him up.  I *think* they rode a rocket to the
moon, but I'm not positive.  (If not, how did they get there?)  They painted stars all night, and then when morning got near, the elf took the boy back home.  I remember a two-page spread picture of stars, all with elves on them, holding tin pails of paint and little whitewash brushes.  And were they singing?  They might have been singing, too.  Aarrgghh!

The Starcleaner Reunion by Cooper Edens, published by Green Tiger 1979 - if it is a reprint of an earlier book? * Later - nope, doesn't look like a reprint.
Not much to go on but the title - Paul's Trip With the Moon, by E.W. Weaver, published New York, Merrill 1912 (c.1899) 92 pages, blue pictorial cloth cover. This looks too late - The Moon Painters and Other Estonian Folk Tales by Selve Maas, illustrated by Laszlo Gal. It was published by Viking Press, 1971, 143 pages, beautifully illustrated throughout with nicely rendered pencil drawings. 15 tales plus a glossary of terms.
not much to go on, but perhaps Karl's Journey to the Moon, written and illustrated by Maja Lindberg, translated from the Swedish by Siri Andrews, published New York, Harcourt 1927. "A slight but pleasing
modern fairytale. Its illustrations in clear, beautiful colors and interesting design make of it a delightful picture book." (Children's Catalog 1936 p.406)
Something about this description makes me think of an old book I had as a child, Greta in Weatherland. A little girl goes out on a dark windy rainy night, opens up her umbrella and is swept away to magic land where weather is made. One illustration has elves or gnomes hammering out sunbeams.
Twinkletoes.  I'm the original poster of this stumper, and my Mom finally thinks she remembers what book I'm talking about!  She says it was called Twinkletoes, but doesn't have any other information.  I'm sure I would recognize it immediately if I saw it.  How about it, Harriet?  Can you finish the puzzle?
Well, there's a Shirley Temple's Twinkletoes from 1936, and a Tiny and Twinkletoes from 1978 by Audrey Tarrant, and also Twinkletoes by Gwen Evrard, Colleen Moore and Thomas Burke.
E2 elves: going only by the title, maybe Twinkle Toes and his Magic Mittens by Laura Rountree Smith, illustrated with full page plates in colour by F. R. Morgan, published Whitman 1919, thin octavo, pictorial cloth boards, decorated endpapers, 6 colour printed dustwrappers, "from the elusive "For All Children from 5 to 10" series, an exceptionally rare title."

#E4-A:  Eileen and Eddie.  The only fairy story with cars which comes immediately to mind is The Gnomobile by U. B. Sinclair, only in that one, it was the humans who drove the gnomes around, not the other way.  And if
you read it at six, you're truly a genius:  it's about twelve-year-old reading level.  Disney made a movie of it.  Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber, from "Mary Poppins," played the two kids.
Possibly The Cinematograph Train by G.E. Farrow (once well-known as author of the Wallypug books), illustrated by Alan Wright, published London, 1904. Bobbie and Evelyn go to the cinematograph (the famous first moving picture showing a train rushing toward the audience) and find themselves on the train station platform. This is Dreamland Junction and they take the train to Fairyland, where a they are met by an odd little driver with a
"well-appointed motor-car". He drives them to meet the Queen of the Fairies - they and the car shrink as they go, to fairy-size. The humour is whimsical and could be called dry. "A stuffed Griffin with a cold is such a stupid thing to be" laments one creature from Nightmare Forest. Fairy baking powder is put into cakes which make those who eat them lighter than air so they can levitate and escape from the evil giant Mam-on who keeps his subjects as slaves. The names aren't quite right - but there's a Prince Eddie in another story, who becomes a Fairy Tale Prince for a while, and discovers it's harder than it looks.

McGraw, Eloise, Sawdust in his shoes,1950.  This is not a short story, but the young man here runs off to join the circus and this sounds like one of the chapters.
E6 elephant dung: another possible title is Elephant Tramp, by George Lewis as told to Byron Fish, published Little Brown 1955. "Lewis was only 16 when he ran away from home and got his first job as a pony 'punk' just to be near elephants. His greatest ambitions were realised when he took over, at varying times, the two biggest and meanest tuskers of them all - Ziggy and Tusko. The book is full of elephant lore and experiences funny, dangerous and disastrous." (HB Apr/55 p.132) Again, it's a book, not a story, but it could have been excerpted.
This is absolutely NOT Sawdust in his Shoes by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. I know and love the book, and there is nothing about elephants in it at all.
Spangle.  Searcher is looking for a short story about a man in a circus who sweeps up after the elephants, gets teased, and turns the tables in a Tom Sawyer's painting the fence trick.  Check out the book titled Spangle. This is NOT a short story but a very thick and heavily researched fictional account of circus life.  It is "gritty" and NOT for children.  However, the elephant dung story appears in the book in slightly altered form and I think the book has lots of references and notes at the end, so it may point the searcher to the original story.

Some possibles - the first doesn't look bad: Harter, Walter, Osceola's Head and Other American Ghost Stories illustrated by Neil Waldman, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall 1974, 71 pgs ISBN 0-13-642991-2,   "Juvenile. Ten stories present the historical backgrounds of ghosts still haunting Valley Forge, the White House and other places in the United States." Baker, Betty, ed. Great Ghost Stories of the Old West Four Winds Press 1968 "A collection of eight eerie, spooky, mysterious, and terrifying ghost stories for young readers that proclaim that ghosts followed the Westward trails of America." Smith, Susy, Prominent American Ghosts Cleveland, World Publishing 1967 blue cover with black lettering, illustrated by photographs.
Another one is Ghosts that Still Walk: Real Ghosts of America by Marion Lowndes, illustrated by Warren Chapell, published NY Knopf 1941 "Sixteen stories of friendly, famous ghosts that still come back in America." The picture of the cover shows a large bare-limbed tree, with a steep-roofed house in the bush behind it, rather dark.
E9 early american ghost stories: more on one suggested - Osceola's Head and Other American Ghost Stories, by Walter Harter, illustrated by Neil Waldman, published Prentice-Hall. 71 pages. Contents include: THE GHOST AT VALLEY FORGE, BLOODY HANDPRINTS ON THE WALL, JAMIE DAWKIN'S DRUM, OSCEOLA'S HEAD, THE HOUSE THAT HATED WAR, THE ACTOR WHO WOULDN'T STAY DEAD, THE GHOSTS OF FOLEY SQUARE, THE GHOSTLY INHABITANTS OF FORT MONROE, THE WITCH IN THE POND, THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD DOUBLOONS. I don't know anything about
American ghost lore, so I don't know if these correspond to the remembered stories or not.

Ford, Jenifer, The House in Hyde Park, 1956, illus by Joan Robinson.  I know this is a long shot.
Shaw, Jane, Susan's Helping Hand.  Children's Press 1960.  A bit doubtful about this - some editions do have a pictorial
cover showing a boy, a girl and an English bobby, but the cloth is usually green, and Children's Press usually only had a frontispiece illo, not plates throughout. Plot description is that Susan's habit of being helpful leads her into trouble.
L.E.Tiddleman, A Bright Little Pair (1913 approximate) Definitely the book,but comes in different editions with different pictures on front.

Esther Hautzig, The Endless Steppe.  Set in Siberia. A likely possibility.
Thanks, but I'm certain that it's not The Endless Steppe.
This is only a possibility, as I don't recall plot details, but you might try The Ark or Rowan Farm by Margot Benary-Isbert.
Could this be When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit?
Anne Holm, North To Freedom.  This could be North To Freedom.  That story is about a boy named David.  I probably read it somewhere around 1970-1972.
This doesn't sound like The Ark or Rowan Farm.  the family in The Ark has been displaced from their home in Pomerania and is forced to relocated to a city somewhere else in Germany  later they move to a farm outside the city and Margaret, the oldest girl, helps breed dogs. There is some mention of them living in refugee camps, but that happens before the book starts.
Lois Lowry, Number the Stars.  Could this be Number the Stars?  "Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life."
Levitin?, Journey to America
Ian Serraillier, Escape from Warsaw Escape from Warsaw is about two sisters and a brother who escape from their bombed-out house in Warsaw and end up in several displaced-persons camps in Europe, trying to find their parents. Much of the story is told from the point-of-view of the older sister, Ruth. My copy was published in 1963 by Scholastic, and the cover shows the children walking through snow.

James Ramsey Ullman, Banner in the Sky, 1956, paperback 1967.  This sounds like it.  It involves climbing a mountain in Switzerland called the Citadel in the 1860s.  I believe its based on a true story about climbing the Matterhorn.  It was a Disney movie in the late 1960s-early 1970s.  I checked imdb.com and another name for the book and/or movie seems to be Third Man on the Mountain.
Please note that E-60, "Banner in the Sky" was not the solution.

Beverly Cleary, Ramona and Her Mother, 1980s.  This may be way off, but Ramona Quimby had a stuffed elephant, named Ella Funt, that she carried around with her.  In Ramona and Her Mother, she sews her a pair of pants.  She had had Ella Funt for a while, so there may have been a spaghetti stain on her somewhere, I don't remember.
Norma Simon, Elly the Elephant, 1962, reprinted 1982.  This is just a possibility - I can't find a picture of the cover anywhere.  Two summaries: "Wendy and her beloved Elly are inseparable until the toy is left at school one day." And "Wendy tells incidents in the life of her nine-year-old toy elephant who goes to school with her, but never grows older."  Hope this rings a bell.
E66 Shot in the dark, but it could be ELLY THE ELEPHANT by Norma Simon. Wendy loves her toy elephant (one summary said she sings to it?), and then one day she leaves it at school. I couldn't find a picture or further summary, so I'm not sure if this is a match~from a librarian
Thank you for the suggestions!  I obtained copies of both Elly the Elephant and Ramona and her Mother, but unfortunately, neither is the book I am looking for.  I believe my book has more pictures (perhaps in color) than Ramona and Her Mother, and is not long enough to have chapters.  Also, my book feels more modern than Elly, and I'm fairly certain is written for a slightly higher reading level.
Nancy K. Robinson, Oh Honestly, Angela!, 1991, reprint.  "Kindergartner Angela has her problems, also. She takes her favorite stuffed elephant to show and tell, only to find out that she is expected to donate it to the school's Christmas drive for the needy."
I revisited the site for the first time in a while, and the stumper is now listed as Solved: Oh Honestly, Angela!However, that is not the book.  In my book, unlike this one, the little girl and her elephant are the main focus of the book.
Did the elephant go to visit its cousins when it was misplaced by the girl?
Another poster asked, "Did the elephant go to visit its cousins when it was misplaced by the girl?"  This doesn't sound familiar to me, but it's been well over 20 years, so it's possible.  I would appreciate it if you would share the title of the book you're thinking of, if you know it.  Thank you!

Mercer Mayer, There's An Alligator Under My Bed.  Sounds like this Mercer Mayer classic.  Also, 3 of these stories were published together as There's Something There (alligator under the bed, monster in the closet, something in the attic), so that could be the collection you mention.
Some commented in the stumper, but it's the correct solutionThe book I am looking for is not a collection of 3 books. It's a textbook.
[I just noticed this Alligator stumper is filed under E.  I have no explanation for that.  But I'll keep it here so the original requester can find it.]

E83 Shot in the dark, but it might be worth looking into THE WITCH DOLL by Helen Morgan~from a librarian
The book was probably from the eighties or even early nineties.  It was about a girl might have lived in some sort of orphanage or something.  She gets this doll and it turns out to be evil.  She and a friend bury it in the woods one night, and the doll is back in her room in the morning, covered in dirt.  The cover was dark, with a dark-haired girl looking frightened as she held up a blonde doll.  I think that the name of this book is a girl's first name.... And although i may be wrong about this, I think that it may be an "A" name, like Anabelle....
The book Im thinking of (see below) is Annabelle by Ruby Jean Jenson: "bandoned by her mother and neglected by her emotionally distant father, a little girl is drawn to an old derelict mansion in the woods near her home. To the lonely little girl the house is her very own castle and it seems to call out to her with a ghostly chorus of voices. Inside she finds a family of dolls that welcome her along with a strange portrait of a woman who smiles down on her like the mother she lost. But this house is no playground. It echoes with the memories of a tragedy that took place nearly a half century ago and the event is still being played out by forces beyond the grave. Dolls come to life, seeking to protect a mysterious girl named Annabelle and a ghostly wraith stomps through the old mansion, crazed with a demonic rage... Ruby Jean Jensen delivers a creepy haunted house chiller with her trademark style and resident killer dolls. A must for Jensen fans and a fun read for horror lovers."
Ruth Arthur, A Candle in her Room, 1966.  Sounds like Ruth M. Arthur's A Candle in her Room to me.  The girl in the book moves into a new house and (I think) finds the doll, either in the attic or in a hollow tree.  The doll's name is Dido, and she is evil.  Somehow, she convinces the girl to do magic.  I remember the girl burying Dido and trying to burn her...and both times she comes back.  I don't, however, remember the resolution!  The cover has a picture of a girl standing over a bonfire, poking it with a stick.
The plot of the Evil Toy returning sounds a bit like Steven King's story about an evil clockwork monkey. I do recall both the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery featured dolls bent on revenge against an evil father figure--the NG one was quite terrifying with her dark eyes and big teeth! She did have blonde hair, would this be similar?

Tony Brice, Little Bobo and His Blue Jacket. Also published as part of the Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories

E86 (and E94???).  Clevin, Jorgen , Pete's first day at school, 1973.  This must definitely be the solution to E86 and it could be the solution to E94.  The cover shows Johnny and Pete - and Pete is a regular large elephant, so his size could have come into the story.  Pete, the elephant, has happy experiences on the first day of school.  "Johnny and Pete live at number 14 Flower Street. Where do you live? Shall we say hello to them? That red knob is the doorbell. Press it with your finger and say : dingalingaling."  Pete the elephant goes to school for the first time. Reader answers questions at each stop-light. Final story page has a 'blank' TV screen with a message seen only when held up to the light !Cover is indeed white as remembered

The description of E99 in the book stumpers sounds to me like Five Run Away Together by Enid Blyton.  I read a series of maybe four or five books in the early seventies, though the books would have been written earlier I think Enid Blyton's famous five series was reissued in the early seventies, in paperback editions published by Knight books. The series (of 21 books in total) was first written in the late 40s to early 60s. The one I think it is would be Book 3.  in which a family of children, I am pretty sure English  The four children in the series are English: Julian, Dick, Georgina (who wants to be a boy and prefers to be called George) and Anne find a secret cave.  I recall that the entrance to the cave is facing out over a steep isolated cliff so is mostly unknown, but they find it by a little hole in the ground, which goes down through the top of the cave. They build campfires and the smoke goes up through the hole. This is what makes me think it could be this book. In Five Run Away Together the five stumble across the cave quite by accident, when one of them falls down the hidden hole in the ground. Further exploration reveals that the cave cannot be seen from the front entrance in the cliff. Also, when a fire is lit, smoke escapes through the roof hole.   There were probably some mysteries involved, but I do not think it was a mystery series per se.  Well if it is this book, it is part of a mystery series, so perhaps I'm wrong... would be my suggestion though!
Blyton, Enid, Five Run Away Together (Famous Five #3), 1944. I have read this book and I think this is the one the requestor wanted.  Four children and a dog go to a uninhabited island and find a cave with a hole in the ceiling.  They lower their stuff through the hole and lower themselves through it too, to save them having to climb the rocks to the front entrance near the beach.  (which can't be seen from the mainland).
They Found a Cave.  I can't remember who wrote this book, but I read it back in the 60s. 4 or 5 children find a cave - I recognise the description with the secret entrance in the top, and run away to live in it -I think one of them was called Nancy. Only problem I think it was set in Australia.
Ransome, Arthur, Swallowdale,1931. In Swallowdale (the second of the Swallows & Amazons series), the Walker family find a secret cave in the cliff-side of a valley in the English hills. (re other postings, note that one of the Amazons is Nancy).

Scott O'Dell, Sing Down the Moon. (1970)  Fourteen-year-old Navaho Bright Morning and her friend Running Bird are kidnapped by Spanish Slavers and sold. Bright Morning later escapes, but when she returns, she finds her village under occupation by the "Long Knives", or American soldiers. The Americans force the Navaho out of their lands, and onto the Trail of Tears.
Before 1988, approximate.  This was a wonderful store of escaped (or freed slaves) living in the hills. The only parts I clearly remember is an older woman painting an apron for the protagonist. The picture was of the protagonist wearing the apron, so it went on for infinity. Eventually they end up joining Indians in the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. It was a children's book, with chapters that I read in 1988.
Dolores Johnson, Seminole Diary: Remembrances of a Slave. (1994)  Might this be the one you're looking for?  "An African American woman and her daughter find the diary of Libbie, one of their ancestors who was sold into slavery. The diary describes how in 1834 Libbie, her father, and her sister escaped from their cruel master. The family is eventually taken in by the Seminoles. Unfortunately, their peaceful new existence doesn't last long as the United States government forces the Seminoles to give up their land in Florida and move to a reservation in Oklahoma. Illustrated with oil paintings."

McGraw, Eloise Jarvis, Mara, Daughter of the Nile, 1953.  I wonder if this book is Mara, Daughter of the Nile Mara is a slave with powerful friends. She works as a double-agent spy and eventually earns her freedom.
Could you possibly be thinking of Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw?
Definitely not Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.  Co-incidentally, I was re-reading that one this afternoon, and it doesn't match at all.  Main characters in that one are Mara, a slave, and Sheftu, a nobleman.

Could this maybe be The Mystery of the Silent Friends? The three dolls in that one are anamatronic not haunted, but they are at the centre of the big mystery in the story. See solved mysteries for more details.
Seon Manley and Gogo Lewis, The haunted dolls: an anthology, 1980.  Doubleday, 1980. Christie, A. The dressmaker’s doll. Timperley, R. The peg doll. James, M. R. The haunted doll’s house. Blackwood, A. The doll. Jerome, J. K. The dancing partner. Danby, M. The grey lady. Andersen, H. C. The steadfast tin soldier. The Doll’s ball. Hawthorne, N. Feathertop. Tapp, T. The doll. The Life of Aunt Sally, alias Blackmore, alias Rosabella, alias Amelia, as related by herself. Pearce, J. H. The puppets. Manley, S. The Christmas of the big bisque doll. Crawford, F. M. The doll’s ghost.
There's a book THE HAUNTED DOLLS: AN ANTHOLOGY selected by Seon Manley and Gogo Lewis, 1980. The stories include: "The Dressmaker's Doll" by Agatha Christie, "The Peg-Doll" by Rosemary Timperley, "The Haunted Doll's House" by M.R. James, "The Doll" by Algernon Blackwood, "The Dancing Partner" by Jerome K. Jerome, "The Grey Lady" by Mary Danby, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Dolls' Ball", "Feathertop" by Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Doll" by Terry Tapp, "The Life of Aunt Sally", "The Puppets" by J.H. Pearce -- "The Christmas of the Big Bisque Doll" by Seon Manley, "The Doll's Ghost" by F. Marion Crawford.~from a librarian.
Seon Manley and Gogo Lewis, The Haunted Dolls: An Anthology,1980. I'm certain that The Haunted Dolls: An Anthology is the book you want. In addition to the details provided by other contributors, I would like to mention that the cover is indeed pale green in color.

Jane Langton, The Diamond in the window.  I'm wondering if you're referring to The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton.  There is one chapter in which the two children (who are orphans being raised by their uncle and aunt) are trapped in a world behind a mirror that reflects their own images as they grow older.

Nancy Woollcott Smith, The Ghostly Trio, 1970s. This was a Scholastic Book Club book that I read way back in the mid-70s.  All I remember of the plot is three friends, two boys and a girl, exploring (and breaking into..even though they didn't take anything or do anything) summer homes.  At one point, there's groaning in one of the houses, and the kids have to figure out if it's ghosts, or a more logical explanation.  I think one of them had some connection with the cottages--maybe the parent was a caretaker?  Flashlights figured prominently, for some reason.  Just a possibility!  Good luck.
Margaret Goff Clark, Mystery of the Missing Stamps, 1967.  Could it be this one?  Mark's new stepfather is the caretaker for a summer camp. (Think cabins in a resort area that families rent for the summer, not sleep away camp.)  His new friend, who works as a busboy at the restaurant, is accused of stealing.  Along with jewelry and other portable things, a valuable stamp collection goes missing, and Mark is determined to discover who's doing the stealing and prove his friend innocent.  There's also a younger girl, staying at one of the cabins, who becomes involved in the mystery.  At one point, there's something about the lights going out and the sign for the camp being changed as part of the mystery.  Maybe worth a try!
No, I don't recognize either suggested solution. It seems that the name of the summer cabins might have appeared to be tar pin et pin dar, because of some of the light bulbs being out on the sign.
Elizabeth Enright, Gone-Away Lake.  While the story is not quite the same, "tar pin and pin dar" could be "Tarquin et Pindar" written in Latin on the "philosopher's stone" discovered by Portia Blake and her cousin Julian.  The abandoned summer cabins are there on the swamp that used to be a lake but I don't remember the lights. See the Solved Mysteries for more.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Enright, Elizabeth.  Gone-away Lake.  illus by Beth and Joe Krush.  Harcourt Brace and World, 1957.  Ex-library edition with usual marks and edgewear, but interior and dust jacket both very clean.  VG-/VG+.  $12  Enright, Elizabeth.  Gone-away Lake.  illus by Beth and Joe Krush.  Harcourt, 1957, 1990, 2000.  New hardcover edition.  $17

Alison Farthing, The Mystical Beast.  This is the one! Check it out in the solved stumpers.

The Junior Classics The stories you mention are all in the ten volume Junior Classics,complete with the unuusual endings, and the tenth volume is an index.  My set is more colorful than you describe, though.  They were given away with Collier's Encyclopedias in the 1950s and 1960s.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Martignoni, Margaret E, series editor.  Collier’s junior classics.  Collier, 1962.  10 vols, cloth, each a different color;  linen interior hinge; all good, with all pages good; vol 4 has a 3/8’  dig in spine; child’s name     The young folks shelf of books.  [NHQ19915]  $80 plus postage

F20 fish: two really long shots - The Magical Cupboard, by Jane Louise Curry, Atheneum 1976, involves an orphan called Felicity in a dreadful 18th c. orphanage run by nasty Parson Grout, who steals a magic wooden cupboard that lets Felicity into modern times. Then there's Fish, also titled A Boy Called Fish, by Alison Morgan, Chatto 1971 about a boy whose birthday, school desk, and even name belong to someone else, and the dog he cares for.
Eleanore Jewett, Felicity Finds a Way, 1940s/1950s.  Another very long shot all I know about this book is the title, and that it was set in post-Revolution New York, and is a book for young people.  Almost certainly not the Alison Morgan book in any case  apart from the fact that the central character is a boy, it does not have a similar plot.

Louisa May Alcott, Flower Fables.  A collection of six original fairy tales written by the acclaimed Louisa May Alcott. These stories are part of a large body of fantasy fiction the author wrote throughout her career. Each story features adventures of elves and fairy sprites in fairyland and are imbued with the lushness of Alcott's love of the natural world. Each story is between 12 and 18 pages with full page illustrations.
Cicely Mary Barker, Flower Fairies books
Cicely Mary Barker, Flower Fairies  series.  A possibility.
Maybe Fairy Elves by Robin Palmer and Pelagie Doane (1964)
Maybe The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibb (Gibbs?) 1940's- I think there are newer reprints. 

Not the same book, but a similar idea - perhaps a series? Dale Payson, Magic Castle Fairytale Book New York, Random House 1978 8vo over 9" illustrated board covers that open up to reveal on the left side - paper pages for the three fairy tales included, which are The Golden Goose, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rumpelstiltskin, and Sleeping Beauty. On the right side the boards unfold again to reveal pop-up castle. In a separate envelope are paper cut-out characters to go along with all the stories. Paper engineering by Ib Penick.
there was a short series of toy/books published in the mid-late 1950s called Playbooks, of fairy tales, including the Three Bears (but not Wizard of Oz, which is copyright) which opened to show a box containing little plastic figures of the characters and some props.
F28 fairy tale figurines: more on the Playbook series - published New York, Playbook 1958, each book being approx 6x4", with the fairy tale in a 12 page front section, and the figures in a box/hollow book after that. Titles
included Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Three Little Pigs, and Hansel and Gretel "with true-to-life playfigures", slogan - "read the books, play with the figures".
We have this book somewhere in our family!  My nan used to have it and it was exactly as you described - the figures were for looking at = couldn't play with them.  On the opposite page were little nursery rhymes stories associated with each scene.  My nan gave this book to one of my cousins so I'll email her and find out the name and publisher!  I'm looking for a copy myself!

This possibility The Cherrys on Indoor Island by Will Scott, published by Brock Books in England, 1958 "The 'happenings' in the Cherrys books could be those of any family - and the neighbours join in. On this wet day the house becomes a desert island crowded with incidents!" (Junior Bookshelf Jan/58 ad) Other titles include The Cherrys of River House (1952), The Cherrys to the Rescue (1963), The Cherrys and Company (1953), The Cherrys' Mystery Holiday (1960), etc.

#F35--Flood!:  One of Lois Lenski's more obscure titles is "Flood Friday."  Since it is based on a true story which took place in Connecticut in 1955, it is doubtful there's anything about going to town in a wagon.  One story set in rural America in the past was "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes."  This was a movie around 1946, part of which dealt with farm children in a flood.
Another guess, but F35 could very well be An American Ghost by Chester Aaron. I haven't read it, but I have seen the TV version. The plot concerns a pioneer brother and sister who are left alone on the family farm while their father takes their mother into town to have a baby. While they are gone, there is a huge flood and the children't home washes away down river. They still have some animals, and later a cougar takes up residence in/near the house.
F35 flood: a long shot, but could it be Champ, Gallant Collie, by Patricia Lauber, published Random House 1960? Champ is left to guard the farm, the river floods, and a mountain lion menaces the farm animals. No idea if
there are children at home as well, though.
F35 flood: the Chester Aaron title, An American Ghost, has some differences. According to a review, the main character is a boy alone, the story is set in the 1800s, and he is "left in charge of a Wisconsin farm house which is swept away down the Mississippi with him inside it. Alone? So he thought until he discovered a mountain lion caged in by a fallen tree at one end of the house." (Children's Books of the Year 74 p.61)

F36 fairies take girl: could it be Joan in Flowerland, hardcover, by Margaret Tarrant and Lewis Dutton, illustrated by Margaret Tarrant, published Frederick Warne, no date, 60 pages. "Joan is a little girl who believes in fairies, and when the gardener tells her that the best place to find them is among the flowers, she goes in search of them. Tinkler the elf acts as guide and Joan makes some wonderful discoveries." The fairies in Annabel and Bryony (Solved List) are military and take prisoners at times, but the children get into fairyland through a flower, not by falling asleep, so it probably isn't that one.
Haldeman, Linda, The Lastborn of Elvinwood,1978.This charming novel has enough elements in common with the requester'\''s stumper to be worth investigating.  English actor Ian James follows his local vicar into a wood, discovers a tribe of tiny faerie folk dwelling there, and is charged by Oberon to aid in finding a bride for the last prince of Faerie -- a task which may involve facing down Merlin himself, and casting a spell over the infant daughter of a visiting American family.  There are more parallels to the poster'\''s description than this summary may suggest, although the match isn'\''t perfect in any event, however, Haldeman is a superb writer and the book well worth seeking out.  The date given is for the original hardcover edition
 there was an Avon paperback issued in 1980.

#F41--Future Forest Cities:  Part of the description reminds me of a chapter from E. Nesbit's The Story of the Amulet and part of it reminds me of  Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green Sky trilogy but it's probably neither one.
perhaps - A Time to Choose: a story of suspense, by Richard Parker, published Harper 1974 151 pages. "When Stephen Conway, aged 17, borrowed his father's car to transport props and costumes for his school play, he not only dented a hubcap but caught a glimpse of an uncanny, bright vision in the windshield. So began the strange adventure of a youth caught between two words existing simultaneously on the banks of an English river: the 20th century world of overpopulation, traffic and pollution; and a future world of idyllic, communal living and skillful utilization of water and wind power. Stephen and classmate Mary Silver soon found themselves able to leave and enter the 'brave new world' but ultimately had to make a choice - to live there permanently or to stay in a world of indifferent or nagging parents, and school examinations." (HB Aug/74 p.385)
F41 future forest cities: another possible is The Magic Meadow, by Alexander Key, published Westminster 1975 "Five young hospital patients escape to a delightful future. Ages 10-14." (HB Apr/75 p.196 pub ad)

Post #F44.  It seems to be the same book that I am diligently searching for.  The story of the ill mother was about the big or little dipper.  The theme of many stories were of how things "became" like the story of spring (?)or was it the wind and good character or values/morals.   If memory serves me well, Midas and the Golden Touch was included, and there was the story of the little pine tree whose needles became something else.  I can almost see the beautiful illustrations but too vaguely to describe.  It was a favorite book to trace from!  I also remember a story of Anderson's Red Cap.    I just stumbled onto this site which is simply fantastic.  I have been