Request #212

 I don’t remember much about the novel, but I think it may have been for young adults. I read it in 1991, and is likely a Scholastic book. The main characters find clues and determine that there’s going to be some kind of attack on London by the Germans. Towards the end of the book, they steal a fighter plane, and take off in the early morning to try and stave off the attack. They’re expecting to see German aircraft approaching, but only see a lone British Lancaster bomber heading to London. They head towards it, make contact with the pilot using hand signals, because the bomber signals that their communications equipment is damaged. The main characters can’t figure out why there are no German aircraft heading toward London, because they were so certain that an attack was imminent. They then put clues together about the Lancaster bomber that don’t make sense, like the fact that there’s no damage to the bomber that’s returning from a bombing run over Germany. They conclude that the Lancaster bomber must be the key to the attack on London. They make the difficult decision to shoot the bomber down, and when it crashes there’s a huge explosion. The main characters later discover that the bomber was a decoy operated by the Germans, and was on its way to do a sneak attack London. They also learned from Air Command that there was no Lancaster bomber scheduled to return that morning, and that they “saved the day.”

If anyone remembers the title of this book, I’d really love to read it again! Thanks!

Request #211

Please help. This was read in the late 70s/early 80s (5th/6th/7th grade?). The main character is a overweight girl from a wealthy family accustomed to getting her way. A parent may pressure her to rake better care of herself. She feels unwanted/unloved(?), I think she hides in a large forest, pretending to runaway from home, and gets lost. I vaguely recall her hiding in a hollow tree for some time. She learns to survive (primitive survival) in the wilderness. When she is found much later, she has shaped up both physically and matured emotionally.

Request #210

Read a book in the late 90s that I have been searching for. For years. Unfortunately the copy I had at the time (early 2000s) my mom borrowed and accidentally left at a hospital when she had surgery for cancer at the time. And, I can’t find the book at all! Driving me crazy.

The book starts with a boy having issues with his mom who doesn’t really take care of him well(Think just bad parenting and drugs and alcohol perhaps). She sends him to live with her parents in the small town she grew up in. To keep him out of trouble. Fire starting is part of it though I can’t seem to remember if Fire is in the title or not. The small town is different for him and his grandparents are strict. He meets his dad for the first time as his dad stayed in that town and started a life and everything. There’s a fire at some point and he is to blame but I don’t really remember anything else.

Request #208

 I am looking for a book for teen literature that was about a boy in school (don’t recall if it’s elementary, middle or high school) where he was a bad basketball player and unpopular but then he learned to visualize without feelings to shoot the basketball and became great and popular but did not experience the feeling of joy and at the end he had to make a free throw shot and decided not to use his visualization technique instead tried to use his ability and made the last shot and he felt joy instead of nothing. I thought it was a scholastic apple published booked, the art work of the cover was in baby blue I think.

Request #207

I think a lot about a YA book I read in the early 80s, probably a Scholastic book. I believe it was written from the POV of a teen girl and was about her and a male friend. I think she might have been a twin. The male was a quiet, reclusive guy. They were both unhappy at home, and made a plan to run away to the redwood forest, a state forest? in Northern California. They guy planned most of it. They left and lived in the woods, sometimes going into a small town. I think eventually the girl leaves and the guy stays in the woods. Thanks for any suggestions.

Request #206

For the longest time I’ve been trying to find the title of a book I read & loved in 2nd or 3rd grade. That would have been the mid-1980s. The books is set in Italy. An American family (or British) are there in the summer…either renting a place or having just bought a place. The story is a mystery/adventure told from one of the kids point of view. Any suggestions or ideas would be much appreciated! Thank you. Suggestion: The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case by Zilpha Keatley Snyde

Request #205

 I’ve tried searching for this book to no avail, so I hope there might be someone here who knows how this one. It’s a young adult book, probably from 1980 or 1981. It involves three girls who are friends, and there’s a zodiac theme. All three are different zodiac signs (I’m pretty sure I remember one is a Leo), and I think the story is utilizing their horoscopes to live their best lives. Of course, there are problems they have to overcome. The only other thing I remember is one of the girls takes an art class and is shocked when there is a nude male model, although she doesn’t dislike it, LOL.

Request #203

I can’t even remember the title of the book but I do remember what the cover was. It was of a boy with flies coming out of his mouth. The book is a childrens book, I believe, and each chapter was a different story. One story in particular was about this guy who moved into an old abandoned lighthouse in the middle of an island that has bad winds. The lighthouse is haunted by these musicians, one I know plays the violin specifically. He couldn’t see the ghosts but only the instruments as they held them. They tried to escape from the winds outside and he watched as the floating instruments be carried out to sea. That’s the one short story I mainly remember and another one is really vague, just basically about a creepy outhouse that was in their relatives backyard. I can’t remember what it was called, but it’s one of those old fashioned bathrooms that people used to keep in their backyard, kind of like an outhouse. That’s all I remember. Unreal: Eight Surprising Stories by Paul Jennings solved by Lost Classics Reader Rachel and a second Anonymous reader!