Tracking Down Books Read When Young

When I was in elementary school, I read a set of children's biography books.  I loved the books, and I have wondered for years what the books were.  You know how it is when you can't remember something, and it keeps bothering you because you can't remember?  That's what it is.  I am not interested in collecting the books or in reading them again.  I'd just like to know what they were.

Each book featured a historical figure.  The books were dark blue with a drawing of the person featured in the center of the cover.  I'm pretty sure that the books were picture books.

I searched online for children's biographies that are blue.  This led me to the Childhood of Famous Americans series.   The below image is from Amazon.

This blue book version of the Childhood of Famous Americans series is too new.  The books I read were published at least 45 years ago based on when I would have been reading picture books.

The Childhood of Famous Americans series has been around for a long time.  Here's a picture from eBay of an old set of blue books.

These aren't the books, either.  The covers don't depict an image of the person featured in the story.  I also distinctly remember that one book featured either Mozart or Beethoven, and neither composer was an American.  These books aren't picture books, either.

I have done all sorts of searches for vintage children's biography books including the word "blue" and also using both "Beethoven" and "Mozart" in some searches.

The books couldn't have been the Landmark Books or the We Were There books because neither series are picture books.

I couldn't find anything that remotely looked like the books I read.  I couldn't find any blue books that were what I recalled.

Huh.

It kept bothering me.  Every so often, I'd try again with no luck.

Recently, I randomly thought of these books again and suddenly realized something.  The books probably were rebound library editions, and that's why I couldn't find the dark blue picture books online.  The books could have been any color before they were rebound.

I knew that I had seen vintage picture book biographies online that I had ignored because they looked nothing like the books I checked out.  I searched again, and this time I didn't eliminate the ValueTales set of biographies from consideration.  I looked at them carefully.

The ValueTales books don't look right at all, because I know that the books I read were dark blue with shiny covers.  That's why I ignored them during all of my searches. 

Despite the books looking completely wrong, I am now nearly certain that the books I read must have been rebound copies of the ValueTales book series.  There's nothing else that the books could have possibly been.

Wikipedia page on the ValueTales set

Thriftbooks product page

This picture is from an eBay listing for a bunch of the books.

One of the books does feature Beethoven, so that tallies.  The center of each cover does depict an image of the person featured, so that tallies as well.  The books are the wrong color, but books can be rebound as library editions in any color of binding.

The age of the books tallies as well.  The series was published beginning in 1977.  I would have checked out the books from my elementary school library most likely during the span of years from 1978 to 1980.  The Beethoven title was published in 1979.

The ValueTales books must be the books I read. 

I have no interest in revisiting the books.  I found an image of one page from the Christopher Columbus book online, and it doesn't appeal to me.

If I were to stumble upon a set of the books with the dark blue library binding, I wouldn't be able to resist, just because of nostalgia.  Otherwise, they are of no interest.

The Season of Silence by Mary Francis Shura

The Season of Silence was written by Mary Francis Shura.  It was published in 1976 in hardcover with dust jacket by Atheneum Press.  The cover and internal illustrations were drawn by Ruth Sanderson.

Publisher's summary:

Susie Spinner was so sick that spring that she was shut away in her room for several weeks.  When she finally got well, she was startled to find that a great many things had changed in her private world. 

It seemed as if some immense force had taken hold on the layers of her life and twisted them so that what had been high had become low and what had been firm and solid under her feet was suddenly spongy and terrifying.

A strange tension had developed between her parents and her sister Carrie; and Carrie seemed to have totally broken off with Martin, who had also been Susie's special friend.  If that wasn't enough, Susie's best friend, Lindy, was all involved with Trevor Howard, who had always seemed to be the worst bully around.

On a forced, wandering, lonely walk Susie chanced on a grove in the Clary meadow, a place so magical that she felt it must have a spirit of its own.  It was in the grove that Susie later encountered the strange, sullen boy named Derek Born, who trapped her in a silence and a lie she couldn't escape. 

By the time it was all over, so many things were woven in together—the scent of wild flowers, the pain of death, and a  deep sense of betrayal—that Susie found herself more changed than anyone else around her.

I read The Riddle of Raven Gulch by Mary Francis Shura and decided to sample a few of her other books.  I chose books where the title and summary made the book sound like one I would like.  The Season of Silence was one of the books I decided to purchase. 

I found one immediately on eBay.  It was the first printing in hardcover with dust jacket, and it was signed by Mary Francis Shura.  I liked the book's appearance, and the price was reasonable for a signed copy.  I purchased the book and read it as soon as it arrived.  

As I began writing this post, I checked to see how common this book is.  I found eight copies for sale online.  I have access to eBay sales from the last three years.  Only one copy of this book has sold on eBay in the last three years, and it is the book that I purchased.  This book is a bit scarce, which is a shame since it's an extremely good book.

The protagonist, Susie, is in the 7th grade.  This is an upper middle-grade book.  The subject content and tone bears some similarity to young adult books, but the age of the protagonist makes it a middle-grade book.  Some minor changes easily could have aged the book up into young adult.

It's interesting that the story in The Season of Silence bears some similarity to Don't Hurt Laurie! by Willo Davis Roberts.  Both books were published by Atheneum Press and were illustrated by Ruth Sanderson.  They are very similar in appearance, so it's interesting that the stories are similar in content and tone.  Both of my books are first printings and are signed by the author.  Click on images in order to see them more clearly.

The Season of Silence is an excellent book.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mystery of the Lobster Thieves by Elaine Macmann Willoughby

Mystery of the Lobster Thieves was written by Elaine Macmann Willoughby.  It was published by Weekly Reader in 1978.

Summary:

Annie and Wallace stay at Blue Shutters, a cottage off the coast of New Hampshire, with their mother and baby sister.  Their father goes back to the city to work.  The cottage is in a deserted area, which Annie finds unsettling.

The children hear about stolen lobsters, and Wallace decides that they will solve the mystery.  With their new friend, Dave, the children try to find out who is taking the lobsters.

On page 29, Wallace and Annie prepare breakfast for their mother's birthday.

On the counter was a used box of blueberry muffin mix and something was baking in the oven.  On the stove was some very crinkled black-brown bacon, which Wallace was trying to get onto a paper towel to drain, while with the other hand he was trying to stir some scrambled eggs.  

I helped him with the eggs, and we were going to cook some more bacon, but Mother said she liked black-brown bacon.  I'm not so sure about this, but it was a relief to us.  Then the timer rang and Wallace got the muffins out of the oven.

Mother is quite tactful!

This is a short book, just 56 pages. 

I purchased this book at the same time as The Riddle of Raven Gulch.  Both books were found together in a local store a couple years ago.  Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as the other book.

I found the story just okay, and I never really cared.

The Riddle of Raven's Gulch by Mary Francis Shura

The Riddle of Raven's Gulch was published by Weekly Reader Books in hardcover in 1975.  The book was also reprinted by Scholastic in softcover under the title The Riddle of Raven Hollow.  Both editions are very common.  

Summary:

The first time Bart hears that Raven's Gulch is haunted, he laughs.  After all, Bart visits the gulch every day.  His newspaper route takes him past the gulch, and his friend, old Mr. Bergen, lives right by the gulch. 

The rumors begin to bother Bart, because they taint his good feelings about his favorite place.  He decides to look into the situation.

Bart learns that a strange car has been seen near the gulch.  Neighbors have reported odd sounds and lights.  Bart sees a shadowy figure in the gulch and soon realizes that something dangerous is going on.  He must find out what it is.

Here's how Bart describes Raven's Gulch on pages 14 and 15.

Everything changes at once when you leave Maple Street.  My bike tires stop that funny singing noise that they make on pavement.  The sound is hidden and muffled as I hit the rutted road.  I can hear my canvas paper bag hit my side soft like a dog's tail wagging.  Instead of green lawns there are deep grassy pastures held back by fencing that staggers raggedly along the roadside.  Even if the sun is shining back on Maple Street, those big trees whose branches meet above the road make it seem like twilight all the time.

I figured they must have laid that road out by an animal trail because it wanders around a lot instead of going straight.  Even though it's bumped and curvy it isn't too hard to bike on because there is never any traffic to watch out for.  I can just wheel any old place in the road. 

After a couple of fenced off pastures, I come to Raven's Gulch.  Maybe it sounds silly but I always think of Raven's Gulch as being my very own place.  Sure, it  has NO TRESPASSING signs posted all along the fence, but Mr. Burgen put them up and he and I are friends.  

More times than I can remember he has told me in his heavy foreign accent, to "Pay those signs no mind."

I take him at his word, too, because there's no time of the year that Raven's Gulch isn't just great.

The spring is the loudest time.  The place is thick with birds and though they sing like everything, they can't drown out the rush of the melted snow water making that little stream into a small icy river.  All sorts of bushy plants bloom and the place is wild with bees.  

In summer I like the berries.  Nobody has ever trimmed those old blackberry brambles and they sprawl around in thorny mountains.  There is no way you can reach the inside ones (which always look the fattest and blackest) because the thorns are curved and mean.  But even just picking on the outside I get quarts and quarts of berries.  Last summer I sold twelve boxes to Mr. Kovacs at the store and took four or five pails to Mr. Burgen's housekeeper for deep dish pies.  After the berries are gone and it gets hot, I like to just sit there in the green cool by the stream and watch the slivers of minnows flicker in the dark of the water and catch tadpoles in my fingers to take home.

The author had me hooked at this point.  This excellent description gave me a reason to care.  Raven's Gulch sounded fabulous, and I wanted Bart to solve the mystery so that he could continue to enjoy his special place.

I like this remark from page 29:

"Things like that don't exist," I said, almost sounding angry without meaning to.

"What really is don't scare people," he said quietly.  "It's what they think is."

This book was written in a fashion that makes it pleasant to read.  It hits the right tone and is interesting from start to finish.  The story is pretty simple and has just 124 pages, but it reads like a series book.  I really enjoyed it.

The Defiant Heart by Florence B. Michelson

The Defiant Heart by Florence B. Michelson was published by Whitman in 1964 and marketed as a "Whitman Teen Novel."

I purchased this book in February at the big library book sale.  There were very few older juvenile books at the sale this year, and I grabbed the few that I could.  I saw this book the other day, and on impulse, I read it.  This was an accomplishment, since it is the first book I have read since April.  May was a terribly stressful month.

Publisher's summary:

Rebellion and defiance surged through fourteen-year-old Lila Hogan like an electric current.  With a toss of her head and a snap of blue eyes, she turned from Aunt Clara and fled out the door.  Scoldings—everyone telling her she was too loud, too bold, too—everything!  No one understood her.  Lonely and tearful, Lila fingered her charm bracelet... a dangling heart, a football from Mario... her only tangible link to her happy, carefree life in the city.

From the city to a small town, from old friends to new, from the warmth and love of her grandmother to the disapproving aloofness of her aunt and uncle... these changes made life almost unbearable for Lila in the months after her grandmother's death.  

Never before had she had to fight to prove herself.  She had always been popular and accepted.  Now she found herself standing before a closed door.  Behind that door was everything she yearned for—the love and trust of a family, the closeness of school friends, and, most of all, the inner confidence that would let her hold her head high.  

It was a lonely difficult fight for Lila, but the victory was a shared one.  Each member of the family gained a special understanding when the closed door was opened to love and belonging.

I don't have a firm understanding of the malt shop book genre, so I'm unsure if this book fits.  In my view, it's a young adult book.  It's a coming-of-age story and deals with Lila's struggles as she adjusts to living with relatives.  Lila's Aunt Clara is very classist and makes disparaging comments about Lila's father.  She also won't permit either Lila or her daughter, Irene, to have anything to do with the son of the cleaning woman, since she considers him bad due to her prejudice.

The author ends the story by having Lila make a certain concession.  I understand why Lila does it, but I would have preferred for it to have been a partial compromise instead of giving in completely.  It just didn't sit right with me for Lila to give in regarding something so extremely important to her.  That's all I can say.

This is a very good book.

The Silent Message by Afton Huff

The Silent Message was published by Steck-Vaughn in 1970.  The book was written by Afton Huff.

Heather Carter, a vivacious teen-ager, plans to spend her vacation at Thistle Trace Ranch visiting her cousin, Jinks MacDonnald.  It is Heather's first trip to the ranch since the operation that restored part of her hearing, and she is looking forward to a lazy, fun-filled summer.

But when Heather arrives at the MacDonnalds', she finds her other cousin Jasper, a scientist, has disappeared and is suspected of taking important research papers from a secret government project.

Heather and Jinks believe Jasper will try to get in touch with them, and they watch for signs that might explain the puzzling events that occur.

A message finally is found, a silent one that Jasper had cleverly concealed.  The girls follow clues in the message, finding danger and spine-tingling excitement—and eventually Jasper himself.  But it is not until the determined girls exhaust every effort in clearing Jasper from a possible charge of subversion that the mystery is fully explained.

The above summary is from the publisher.

I found this book at the library book sale.  The library sale often has books by Oklahoma authors, and the books tend to be scarce.  This book is both.

The author made me care, almost immediately.  That's more important than anything.  The story is intriguing, for several reasons which I won't mention. 

The front cover of the book has Morse code on it!  I found a table of Morse code symbols and deciphered it.  The code says what I expected it would probably say.  So neat!

The culprit is predictable.  I guessed fairly early in the story, but that is often the case.  Since I had already guessed, I was a bit nervous when Heather and Jinks choose to trust this person.  I knew that was a mistake.

This is a very good book.

The Secret of Riverside Farm by Jean Hager

Twelve-year-old Alison Hill and her family leave their apartment in the city for a three-months' stay at Riverside Farm in rural Oklahoma.  Mr. Hill is a writer and plans to complete work on some manuscripts during the summer.  

Living on a farm is a new experience for Alison and her younger brother John.  They find the old farmhouse looking like a "milk carton"—tall, narrow, old, and dejected.  Alison feels a bit dejected herself and hopes the summer away from her friends will not be as drab as she expects.  

However, Alison's natural curiosity and love of mystery are aroused when she discovers a letter hidden in a window seat in her room.  The letter, yellowed with age, hints that something valuable is hidden on the farm.  

With the help of her brother and a neighbor boy, Alison begins a methodical investigation.  But clues turn up that are far more interesting than anticipated, leading Alison and her helpers into dangerous situations. 

I never cared about the story.  This book is missing that extra something that makes Jean Hager's The Whispering House special.  This book is just okay and nothing more.  

The Whispering House by Jean Hager

Three young orphans arrive in Union City, Kansas, to make their home with an eccentric great-uncle they have never seen.  Teenager Anne and her brothers, Stephen and Eric, find both Uncle Julian and his large old house remote and mysterious.

The house, built in the mid-nineteenth century, seems to whisper that it has a secret.  But the whispers of classmates and many adults in Union City, that the children's great-great grandfather was a traitor, were even more disturbing to Anne.  Intent on finding out the truth about the rumors, Anne finds herself in an awkward situation:  she must produce evidence to prove that her ancestor was not a traitor or expose the family to even more embarrassment.

This book was published in 1970 by Steck-Vaughn.  Jean Hager is a prolific author, but she has only written two books for children.  The second book is The Secret of Riverside Farm, also published in 1970 by Steck-Vaughn.  Both books are quite scarce and difficult to find priced fairly and in collectible condition.  That is, a few collectible copies can be found as I write this, but that will likely change upon publication of this post.  Altogether, around 10 copies of Riverside Farm and around 15 to 20 copies of Whispering House are available online.  Some copies are quite overpriced.  At decent prices, the books are in short supply.

Two years ago, I found The Whispering House at a booksale.  In that post, I wrote:

The Whispering House caught my eye, and I opened it just to see if it might be interesting enough to purchase.  This was after I had already gone over the books more than once and was browsing more leisurely.  As soon as I opened the book, I saw that it was signed by the author.  I still don't know if the book is good, but I wasn't going to leave a signed book behind.  And yes, as you can clearly see, the book was priced at $2.00.

Always click on images to see them more clearly.

Recently I decided to select random books off of my shelves and then try to read them.  I have been very unmotivated to read and review books.  I was determined to write a review for any book I tried, even if I didn't like it.  And so I selected this book.

As I began reading the first few pages, the story was adequate, and I considered it to be overall good.  I quickly decided that the book was very good.  By halfway through the book, I was completely captivated and very happy to be reading such a great story.

The book combines a mystery with a coming-of-age story.  The lesson is that appearances are deceiving and that we should not judge people by the limited information we have.  

I really enjoyed wondering how and when Anne would figure out what she needed to know about her great-great grandfather.  Anne has real worries, and the solution to the mystery is important.  I also enjoyed the development of Anne's relationship with her Uncle Julian.

This is exactly the kind of book I like.  It is easy to read, engaging, and suspenseful.  I was never bored.  This is an excellent book.

Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey

I am having trouble finding the motivation to read much of anything these days.  This problem has been caused by stress from the pandemic in addition to some other events.  There is nothing I can do about this problem; I will get past it eventually.

The upside is that I am willing to try just about any book outside of what would normally interest me.  I am uninterested in all of the books that I would typically take great interest in reading.  Since I won't be able to accomplish reading any of them, I can just as easily pick up something else and give it a try.  

I purchased a copy of Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey in early December.  The book is a Weekly Reader edition from 1977.  The book was on the clearance shelf in a local bookstore.  I purchased it because it looked interesting, and it was cheap.  Books about storms tend to be good.

The other day, I remembered this book and thought, Why not?  I decided to read it.

In Carolina Hurricane, twelve-year-old Morgan sets out in his father's crab boat to collect the crab pots.  Morgan and his mother are concerned about a tropical disturbance that is offshore.  While Morgan works on collecting the pots, he checks the weather on the VHF radio.  He learns that the disturbance is now a hurricane.  Morgan turns towards home but ends up stranded in the storm.

The story has very little dialogue.  I prefer stories in which the protagonist is accompanied by a friend.  The dialogue improves the pacing and makes the book easier to read.  Conversations also add interest to the story.

Here are two pages from the story from right when Morgan begins to be in danger.  Click on the image to enlarge it so that you can read the words.  

I found the setting to be confusing and had trouble visualizing it.  The book does have a map; however, the map also confused me.  The map shows where Morgan is stranded, but he moves around a bit during that time.  I needed some more information.

The Fancy Gap River and the various waterways all look to be about the same size on the map, yet that is not the case in the story.  I also was thrown off by north not pointing up at 90 degrees as is standard for a map.  Not being able to picture the setting diminished my enjoyment of the story.

I mostly enjoyed this book and consider it to be overall good.  It isn't anything special, but it's a decent read.  Also, it is my third book read in 2022, and that's an accomplishment.  Even more significantly, I actually wrote this review.  

Bicycles North! A Mystery on Wheels by Rita Ritchie

Bicycles North! was written by Rita Ritchie and was published by Whitman in 1973.

Kathy and Russ go on a bicycle trip with their cousins, Dave and Laura.  The young people are to obtain water samples from the nearby tributaries as part of a professor's project to analyze pollution.  The group must ride a certain number of miles each day in order to take the samples at each designated location.  Each sample is to be mailed to the professor on the same day that it is collected.

The trip starts off in an ordinary fashion, until the young people cross paths with the Jordans, a couple traveling by boat who seem a bit rude.  Later, the young people become friendly with Tim, who has worries of his own.

As I read this book, I was struck by how well it would have worked as a Trixie Belden book.  The adventure and mystery in this story are just like the types of adventures that Trixie and the Bob-Whites have.  In particular, I thought of The Red Trailer Mystery and The Mystery on the Mississippi as I read this book.

The last time I read the Trixie Belden books, I found the teasing between Trixie and the boys to be a bit much.  I rather enjoyed reading a Trixie-like book that does not have excessive teasing.  Actually, it has no teasing.

This is an all-around enjoyable regular children's book.  It is very good.

Spirit Town by Suzanne Roberts

Spirit Town was written by Suzanne Roberts.  It was published by Whitman in 1972. 

From the back cover:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF . . .

you, with your family, unsuspectingly moved to a weird, spirit-ridden town called Hangsaman, where everyone in town believed in witches and sorcerers and spells and the world of the dead?

Mimi had to face the evil there in Hangsaman, in this chilling tale about a ... SPIRIT TOWN.

Mimi moves to Hangsaman along with her mother and older sister, Julia.  Mrs. Wade purchased a house site unseen in Hangsaman, just certain that she would have a successful beauty parlor.  It turns out that success is not guaranteed in this strange new place.

This town is smothered by an oppressive sense of evil.  Three mediums live in the town, and they communicate with the dead.  Mimi doesn't believe it for a second, but Julia is immediately intrigued.  Julia's boyfriend was recently killed in Vietnam, and Julia hasn't been herself in months. 

Julia snatches onto the hope that she can speak to Chuck again.  Mimi tries to convince Julia that the mediums are fake, but Julia won't listen.  Mimi's insistence that the mediums cannot contact spirits raises their ire.  Mimi becomes frightened, certain that she is in danger.  Can she prove that the mediums are frauds before it is too late?

As I read the book, I was unsure whether the mediums would turn out to be fakes or whether they would turn out to be real.  The book has an overlying sense of mystery, danger, and the unknown from the very beginning.

This is a very good to excellent book.

The Thing in B-3 by Talmage Powell

I purchased The Thing in B-3 in a local store last week.  The Thing in B-3 was written by Talmage Powell.  The book was published by Whitman in 1969.  I had seen the book in the store previously, but on that day, I impulsively decided that I might enjoy reading it.  I paid $5 for the book.  

I find that Whitman books vary greatly in quality.  Some books are favorites, but I find that many  Whitman books are substandard or boring.  For that reason, I am always wary of them.  I love the appearance of Whitman books, but the stories are often not very good, in my opinion.

Deciding to purchase The Thing in B-3 was certainly a risky decision based on my past experiences.  I've done it before with other Whitman books and have often regretted those purchases.  I hoped that this purchase wouldn't end up a disaster like so many others.

This is a book where it is best not to give much of a summary.  

Bill Latham, student at Crownover University, has a job in the morgue, cleaning the floor.  One night he finds a body in drawer B-3, an unidentified body that should not be there.

That's all I'm going to reveal.  Spooky, yes?

The text was written quite well and is engaging.  The early part of the story is quite unsettling.  Much of the book plays out like a typical juvenile mystery story, with the backdrop being an unexplained event.

I enjoyed how the author switches perspective between the different characters.  At different times, the text switches between Bill, his father, the housekeeper, Bill's faculty advisor, another doctor, and a couple other people who are involved in the plot.  This is executed well and is not confusing.  Knowing the thoughts of the different characters added to my enjoyment of the story.  

This is a very good to excellent book.  I am so glad that I purchased it.

The Girl with the Silver Eyes and Haunted Summer

In The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts, Katie Welker is different.  Her eyes are silver, and she can make objects move just by thinking about them.  Some people think Katie might be a witch, and none of the children like her.  Katie feels very alone until she learns that her mother worked for a pharmaceutical company while pregnant.  Mrs. Welker used a drug that was later discontinued for safety reasons.  Katie also learns that three other workers were pregnant at the same time.  Katie wonders if these other children are like her, and she tries to find them.

This was one of my favorite books when young.  I read it multiple times.  I decided to read it again recently to see if it would hold up, and it does.  I still find the story to be excellent.  Now that I am much older, I do see some flaws in the plot that were not apparent to me when I was young.  Katie finds the other children too easily, and the ending of the book is a bit rushed.  However, the story is still great and is quite engaging.

In Haunted Summer by Hope Dahle Jordan, Rilla Marston hits something while driving the florist's delivery truck on a foggy night.  Rilla is horrified to see that she has run over a boy on a bicycle.  She takes him to the hospital, then she panics and flees.  Later, Rilla learns that the authorities are looking for a boy—Rilla has short hair, so the nurse must have thought she was a boy.  Rilla is safe; no one is looking for her.  However, Rilla is consumed by guilt when she learns that the boy was seriously injured.  How can Rilla go on with her life when she knows what she did?

Rilla's full name is Marilla Marston.  I love her name.

This is an excellent story.

What Happened to Amy? by Jane Edwards and Blue Treasure by Helen Girvan

In What Happened to Amy? by Jane Edwards, Joyce Farrell takes a job as the secretary to a famous author, Miss Penrose.  Miss Penrose's previous secretary, Amy Dekker, suddenly quit and eloped.  As Joyce learns more, she begins to suspect that Amy's disappearance involved foul play.

Miss Penrose reads the first chapter of her upcoming book at a town social event.  Hours after Miss Penrose and Joyce return home, a fire breaks out in the room where the manuscript is kept.  The manuscript burns up, leaving Miss Penrose and Joyce devastated.  Joyce wonders whether something in that chapter worried someone and could be a clue to some nefarious activity.  Joyce begins to search for Amy Dekker.

This book reads much like an old Nancy Drew book.  In fact, the climax of the book is rather similar to a portion of an old Nancy Drew story.  It's best not to say which one, since doing so would reveal what happened to Amy.

This is an extremely good and very engaging story.

In Blue Treasure by Helen Girvan, Anne McClure inherits a property in Bermuda.  She isn't even related to the former owner, but nevertheless, the property will be hers provided that she lives there for one year.  Soon after Anne and her family arrive, relatives to the former owner make themselves known and promise that Anne will not end up inheriting the property.

Anne soon learns that a missing Vermeer painting may be located on the property, and she begins searching for it.  Meanwhile, the unpleasant relatives also search for the painting and cause mishaps on the property, hoping to drive Anne away.

The location of the missing Vermeer is very easy to guess, and the mystery is quite mild.  However, the story is very interesting and pleasant to read.  The book was originally published in 1937 and reads in a similar fashion to Augusta Huiell Seaman's books of the 1930s.  I greatly enjoyed it.

When Midnight Comes and Beware of This Shop by Carol Beach York

In When Midnight Comes, Joan's cousin Wilma comes to stay with the Bridgeport family.  Wilma is fat, plain, and will not talk.  Joan and the rest of the family feel very uncomfortable around her.  Soon after Wilma arrives, strange things happen.  The back door is left open one day, and the Bridgeports' cat disappears.  Mrs. Bridgeport develops insomnia, and Emily must sleep with her light on.  The grandfather clock that doesn't work begins ticking during the night.  The entire family is spooked, but Wilma remains unresponsive.  Joan desperately wants Wilma to return to her home.

In Beware of This Shop, Isabel buys a ring in a gift shop, while Hester purchases a small figurine.  Hester notices that the figurine is no longer pretty once she gets home with it, and she feels that the figurine is giving her nightmares.  Hester breaks the figurine and immediately feels better.

Hester visits Isabel to find her deathly ill.  Hester gets the ring away and destroys it, and Isabel recovers quickly.  Unfortunately, the townspeople continue to visit the gift shop, and soon, the store owner manipulates Hester into working for him.  Hester fears for her life, but she cannot figure out how to break the spell.

Both of these books would have fit in well with the Dark Forces and Twilight Where Darkness Begins series, which were both published at around the same time as these two books.  If you enjoy either of those series, then you will most likely enjoy these books.  I greatly enjoyed both of them.

I have sampled a few other books by Carol Beach York, and I did not like them.  This is an author where some books are great and others are not that good.

Stone Frog, Ghost Burro Canyon, and Whistling Mountain Mystery by Dorothea J. Snow

In The Secret of the Stone Frog, the Brokie family has recently moved back to Huntertown, Alabama.  Billy Joe has no friends at school, and he cannot break into the cliques.  The only boy who will speak to him is Hans, who is also new.  Billy Joe reluctantly becomes friendly with Hans and soon learns that Hans is worth having as a friend.

Billy Joe learns that an ancestor of his is believed to have robbed the town's bank.  The Brokie family does not believe the story, but the rest of the townspeople think that he might have been guilty.  Billy Joe unexpectedly uncovers some clues and begins trying to prove his ancestor's innocence.  The stone frog in the center of town provides an unexpected revelation.

I picked this book up at a book sale earlier this year.  After reading the first few pages, I wasn't sure if I would like it.  I finally decided to dive in and give it a try.  I ended up enjoying the book far more than I expected.

The story is quite interesting and is a good mystery.  It does drag a little bit towards the end, but otherwise, this is a very good book.

Since I enjoyed The Secret of the Stone Frog so much, I purchased two other children's books by Dorothea J. Snow.

In The Mystery of Ghost Burro Canyon, Ted's family has moved to his grandparents' motel in Colorado.  The motel business is a struggle, and Grandpa worries when travelers select the other motels on down the road, which have better amenities.  The motel needs to be upgraded, but the family does not have the money.  Ted learns about the buried treasure of Ghost Burro Canyon and decides to search for it. 

I love the setting of this book.  The motel setting reminds me of trips taken in my childhood when we stayed in motels.

The summary on the dust jacket of this book reveals the ending, so I am glad I did not read the summary before finishing the book.  The summaries on all three of these books give away too much information, including events from near the end of each story.  I suggest reading only the front flap part of the summaries on these books and avoiding the back flap portion until after each story has been read.

This is another very good book.

In The Whistling Mountain Mystery, Billy and his family have moved to Martinsdale, Alabama, to live in the old family home.  They are dismayed to find the home in extreme disrepair with no plumbing or wiring.  The Todds begin to clean up and plan to save money so that they can gradually get electricity and water.

Billy hears about the legend of the lost Corbett treasure.  The Corbetts were his forebears, and a servant was supposed to hide the family silver in a cave on the mountain in the days when the Yankees were coming.  The servant vanished, and the silver has never been found.  Billy hopes to find it to pay for the electricity, but everyone laughs at him.

The children find an important diary in the trunk of an abandoned house that had been rented out for many years.  I find it impossible to believe that none of the renters would have gotten a hold of that diary.

Chapter II is titled "Rose-Colored Glasses."  The title refers to how optimistic the Todds are about making a home out of a house that is in very bad shape.  On the first page of the chapter,  Mama mentions an old family plantation from before the war and how it had "many servants and field hands for it."  I thought the chapter title rather apropos, since Mama speaks of the plantation as though viewing it through rose-colored glasses, not mentioning the rather important fact that the field hands were actually slaves.

This is a very good to excellent book.

Don't Hurt Laurie! by Willo Davis Roberts

Don't Hurt Laurie! is a book that I remember vividly from childhood.  It was written by Willo Davis Roberts and was published in 1977.  I probably read it around 1980 to 1982, and I read it four or more times.  I recall checking it out from the library at least four times, maybe more.  I was obsessed with the book and couldn't get enough of it.

Don't Hurt Laurie! is about a girl who is physically and emotionally abused by her mother, Annabelle.  Laurie has been taken to the hospital many times for burns, broken bones, and cuts.  As soon as anyone begins to notice that Laurie gets hurt a bit too often, Annabelle forces the family to move.  Laurie has a stepbrother and stepsister, and Annabelle never hurts them.  Laurie's stepfather and his mother also have no idea what is happening.  Laurie is afraid to tell anybody, because she is certain that no one will believe her.  If no one believes her, then Annabelle's abuse will worsen.

I have always remembered this book vividly, even though I hadn't read it since childhood.  I remembered Laurie and a friend playing in a ravine behind the property.  I remembered the abuse.  And I remembered that for some reason, this book spoke to me, which is why I read it so many times.  I was not abused as a child, but for some reason, I strongly identified with Laurie.  After so many years, I didn't know exactly why I loved the book so much, but I decided to read the book again to see what I could figure out.  I knew why practically as soon as I began reading the book.

Laurie's personality is a 100% match for my own.  I have never read any other book that matches my personality and how I was as a child as closely as this book does.  Laurie is shy and doesn't make friends easily.  Laurie reflects on how others ignore her and don't even notice her.  She loves to read.  She can't think up the right words in conversations.

This book still speaks to me.  I still love it.

On page 59, Laurie has "no refuge anywhere, except within herself."  She has to "withdraw into a world of make-believe in her books."  As did I, since I never fit in with the other children.

On page 83, Laurie's new teacher raps her across the knuckles with a stick for not paying attention, hurting her.  Even the teacher abuses the poor girl!  I'm not sure if Davis meant that specifically when she wrote the story, since that sort of thing was more acceptable back then.  Perhaps she did.  I doubt I thought anything of that when I read the book as a child.  But it really stands out now as more physical abuse.

This book also spoke to other children.  I read reviews on Goodreads, and multiple reviewers stated how they read this book over and over again.  One person who was not a victim of abuse stated that she wondered if the librarian might have thought she was a victim.  Another person who loved the book was a victim of abuse, and it gave her courage.  And yet another reviewer wrote that she got help for an abused friend after reading the book.

For those of us who fit a certain personality type or have had certain experiences, this is an extremely compelling and outstanding book.  It will always be special to me.

Vicki Loring #1 A Career for Vicky and #2 Golden Buttons

The Vicky Loring series was published by Golden Press and consists of just two books.

1.  A Career for Vicky, 1962
2.  Golden Buttons, 1963

In A Career for Vicky, teenager Vicky Loring wants to follow in her father's footsteps. Kenneth Loring is a famous television anchor, and Vicky has recently gotten an entry-level job at his network.  Vicky is soon plunged into mystery when her friend, Julia Clevenger, disappears at her debutante debut.  Meanwhile, Mr. Loring works with Julia's father, Senator Clevenger, on a dam project that has run into a problem.  The ownership of the land that Senator Clevenger needs for the dam is in question.

The two separate plots converge towards the end of the book, which can always be expected in this kind of book.

This is a fast-paced, excellent story.

In Golden Buttons, Vicky is now her father's assistant at the network.  Mr. Loring and Vicky arrive in Zourab in the Middle East. Mr. Loring is being secretive about a message he has received, which puts Vicky on edge. Vicky finds an ornate golden button on the ground in a local market, and soon after, Vicky notices that someone is following her. In time, Vicky realizes that the golden button holds the secret to something and that she is in grave danger so long as she has the button in her possession.

I overall enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book.  The last one-third of the book bored me.

Serpent of Pirate Cove and Trouble at Turtle Bay

The Serpent of Pirate Cove was written by Bill Knott and was published by Steck-Vaughn in 1971.

In The Serpent of Pirate Cove, Jeff and Bob see a large serpent in the water in Pirate Cove.  Soon, others see the serpent, and hundreds of people flock to the area in hopes of seeing the mysterious creature.  Jeff and Bob suspect a hoax, and they set out to find out what is happening.

This is like the typical series book where someone pulls off a hoax by having some kind of monster appear in a lake.  This type of story is almost always good.

This is a very good book.

Trouble at Turtle Bay was written by Marie Holmstrand and was published in 1957 by Dodd, Mead & Company.

In Trouble at Turtle Bay, Bud and his father fish from Lake Superior. The taconite mining industry is bringing change to their town, and the family is caught between the old ways and the new ones. Bud wants to embrace the new life, but his father clings to tradition. The company tries to force the family to sell their land, but Bud's father refuses.

This is a coming-of-age story and not a mystery.  The story is absorbing, and I kept wondering how the plot would resolve.  The solution does not become apparent until pretty close to the end of the book.

This is an excellent story.

The Spotlight Club and the Lookouts Mystery Series

I have been trying a bunch of books that I have needed to read for a long time.  These are books that I will not be keeping.

The Spotlight Club series was written by Florence Parry Heide and Roxanne Heide. These books were written for pretty young readers.  I first read The Mystery of the Missing Suitcase.  This book has short, repetitious sentences.  Words are repeated often, and the book is similar to a reader.  The mystery is almost nothing.

Next, I tried the Spotlight Club book, Mystery at Keyhole Carnival.  This book is rather similar to many series books that are set at carnivals.  The carnival is plagued by accidents, and the children must figure out who is responsible.  This book was written on a slightly higher level than The Mystery of the Missing Suitcase.  I liked it better, but it was not very compelling.

I also tried Mystery at the Weird Ruins, which is a title in the Lookouts Mystery series by Christine Nobel Govan and Emmy West.  The children go to government property upon which they see circles of rocks, supposedly placed there hundreds of years before.  The children dig around, moving the rocks.  I had trouble accepting that the authors seemed to think it fine for the children to tamper with an archaeological site on government property.

The children speak in dialect, and I always struggle when books are partially written in dialect.  Most of it was fine, but there were a couple of dialect words that I could not decipher.  That always bothers me.

I did not enjoy Mystery at the Weird Ruins very much.