What Is This Book?

[chonies]

Oct 14, 2009 9:07:39 GMT -4 kanding said:

Oct 8, 2009 21:55:40 GMT -4 LAX said:

I'm looking for a series of illustrated children's books about a witch. It was from England and very funny.
What I remember most about the witch book was it has little interactive features, you could take letters out of envelopes and read them..stuff like that. The witch had a flyer or something advertising a sale at a witch supply shop and there were things like boots in four colors - only all the colors were variations of black.

Speaking of taking letters out of envelopes, does anyone remember a short series of books (maybe three) about a man and a woman and the letters they send each other? I'm not sure they ever meet and there may be some timebending in the story, but the books/attached letters were beautiful. The story left me yawning, but the books themselves were nice.

kanding, that sounds like Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock. Like you, I gave up on the series at some point, but I loved those pretty, pretty pages.

[Deleted]

Speaking of children's books about witches, does anyone remember a short chapter book (probably around third grade level) about a little witch who goes to school? It was published between the 50s and 70s (I'm assuming) and I remember reading an oversized yellow hardcover edition, illustrated.

The little witch lives by herself (with a cat, a bat, or another sort of witchy animal) and decides to go to school. One of the girls she meets there is named Karen. There's an outbreak of chicken pox in the classroom, and the little witch is lonely because she's immune to it.

That is definitely Glenda by Janice May Udry. The Amazon entry for it doesn't have any reviews, but it has an image of the cover.

[Deleted]

Newt, that's it! Thank you so much - I loved that book. And the illustrations by Marc Simont perfectly captured the character.

[kanding]

Oct 14, 2009 9:59:24 GMT -4 chonies said:

Oct 14, 2009 9:07:39 GMT -4 kanding said:

Speaking of taking letters out of envelopes, does anyone remember a short series of books (maybe three) about a man and a woman and the letters they send each other? I'm not sure they ever meet and there may be some timebending in the story, but the books/attached letters were beautiful. The story left me yawning, but the books themselves were nice.

kanding, that sounds like Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock. Like you, I gave up on the series at some point, but I loved those pretty, pretty pages.

BINGO! Thanks, not remembering was really bothering me!

[Smilla]

Okay, so here's a grim one that I'm too nervous to ask about anywhere else. It's YA, published during the late '80s, I think. Its distinguishing feature is a gruesome scene in which the main character's friend (graphic spoiler--not for animal lovers) beats a dog to death (with a lawn chair). Yes, this was marketed to younger readers. I don't remember much about the context of that incident, except that it may have happened sometime after the characters (two guys, I think, and one of their mothers) get lost in the "urban" area of their city at night. The book was well-written, IIR, but maybe not by any of the more famous authors in the genre.

[scotchbonnet]

There's a YA/children's book I've been trying to find for years. At the end of the 19th century (maybe earlier?), a teenage girl and her friend go through an abandoned mansion and notice a painting of three sisters who lived there years before. On subsequent visits they notice that the painting is a little different every time they visit, and that something with feathers (a bracelet?) is always depicted on one of the sisters--but a different sister each time. It turns out the sisters are evil and using the feathered bracelet to travel through time. The book's from 1977/1978 or earlier.

Honestly, I've wanted to read that book again since fourth grade.

[MrsCatHead]

Looking for a book I read as a preteen in early 80s. Like 81 or 82. I *thought* the title was The Day the Earth Stood Still but it isn't that. It wasn't about spaceships or anything like that. Characters were school kids and I can't remember much of it except that the kids went to school and it was almost like the rest of the world became empty while this one group of kids were at school. No one else in the school and no one outside. Like a Twilight Zone episode.

Also looking for a weird ass book I read in the 8th grade (83). Kids were in a maze of sorts and had to do ritualistic dancing to get food pellets and such. They were being controlled by some mastermind. Can't remember the ending but it was weird weird and it has haunted me since.

[Deleted]

MrsCatHead, your second book sounds like it might be House of Stairs by William Sleator.

[MrsCatHead]

that's it! How on earth did you know that? Thank you!

[Deleted]

You guys are awesome. I have two -- cannot remember either title for the life of me, but do remember the stories. They both are YA books mom gave us back in the late 70s.

One was of a girl who goes to Nantucket Island for the summer, and that's all I can remember about the plot line. I remember the descriptions of the island, but not why she was there. I know summer camp wasn't a part of the story line, so it must've been to visit family.

The other one was a YA novel about a girl who goes to boarding school and her travails there, especially with their "brother" school (or dorm?) and having a crush on a guy at the brother school. There were many descriptions of winter -- snow, sneaking out across the lawn/quad/whatever that separated the boy's school/dorm from the girls over to the boys' area to meet up with her crush and kiss in an appropriately YA innocent way.

Anyone have any ideas?