Author: mondomolly

I am looking for a book I read in the 1960s about a girl, and a boy from England who moves next door. The girl likes the way he says ‘bath’ with his English accent. When getting ready for a party, the girl plaits her hair more loosely than usual so the plaits will lie flat when she winds them around her head. She leans over a steaming pot/kettle so that tendrils form around her face. I think the setting was rural. I borrowed the book from a public library in Chicago. Suggestion: Witch’s Sister by Phyllis REynolds Naylor

 I have searched off and on for a book that I read partially back in the mid 1970’s (I read it in 1975 or 1976) and always wanted to find.  It was one of those books that girls would secretly pass around school.  It was about a young teen couple who got pregnant, married and tried to make a go of it living in a city – (NY?).  They had a hard life.  I remember the line “Tell me that you love me now.” and thought that was the title, but have never found it.  I recently saw the book Forever, by Judy Blume, and thought that might be it as the timing was right, the author was big at my school at the time and it was controversial, but the plot was different (she doesn’t get pregnant and I think they split up in the end), so that isn’t it, but I think I recall that one floating around at the time too – I remember that title.

I don’t know why it bugs me so much all these decades later, perhaps because I never finished the book?  It’s just always bugged me that I can’t find it.  If you know what this book is, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me the title.  It sort of reminds me of that movie Molly Ringwald did about teen pregnancy, but that isn’t the exact storyline either. Suggestion: Mr and Mrs Bo Jo Jones by Ann Head

OK, very hard to describe this book that’s too vivid not to forget, a sense that it’s always been there, it has to be.  It’s a children’s picture book. All I remember are the pictures.  Wild exotic animals roaming around places around the city, like a park.  One image that haunted me was a lion that was in a library.  The art was gorgeous and felt intimidating.  I had to be 3-7 reading this book in the early 90s.  Book could’ve came out in the 80s or 70s but it didn’t feel old. Suggestion: Animalia, by Graeme Base

 The book I’m trying to remember is similar to #96 — typical information for teenagers on grooming, clothes, nutrition, manners, things like that. The ultimate goal of this one was for the reader to host a successful party and it had a countdown. Something like one month out, make a guest list, three weeks out, send invitations, two weeks out, make a menu and shopping list, one week out, pick out and iron your outfit, etc. It may have been affiliated with a magazine. Seventeen had several books of that genre but none of them that I’ve looked at online seem to be this one, so maybe Co-ed or American Girl, or maybe I’m mistaken about the magazine connection. I got it from the library around 1973 or 74; it may have been from then or from the 60s as it didn’t seem as old-fashioned as the 50s books of this type.

I read this one in the early to mid 80s, I believe it was contemporary. A high school girl has a crush on her teacher, and they end up having an affair. This is NOT Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein. I remember that she had a chess set that her grandfather (I think) had made for her. She brings that to school and they play chess. I think they go away on a ski weekend. The book was pretty racy for a YA book at that time! I feel like the cover has a picture of them embracing in the snow. I don’t think it was part of any series. Would love any leads!

 I read a YA thriller/romance from my elementary school library – probably in about 1970/1972 – about a girl who is 16? and a competitive ski racer. She comments on carrying extra weight and how it helps cut the wind resistance in competition. She comes across some spies in a mountain hug while out on a trail, and winds up helping them (intelligence agents ), and develops a romance with a young man who’s one of them towards the end – also rescues him from danger. I would love to know the title! Something with “wind” in it, possibly?

I remember reading a book about a girl who lived in Florida, set in the summer before she went to middle school. The main character was Bailey, she had a younger neighbor named Frances, her mother was an alcoholic, her father was remarrying, and she had an older brother who had graduated high school and was joining the military. It was probably set in the late 80s-early 90s. I remember the line “lord help us Welawanee” as an inside joke amongst the family. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I think this is an older book… but I’m not sure.
It follows a teenage girl and her friend that’s a boy. There is an audition for a play and one (or both of them?) get parts in the play.
One day the boy goes to pick up the girl but gets in a car accident and dies. At the end she doesn’t go to the funeral and swings on a swing. Help!  Suggestion from Lost Classics reader Julie: Say Goodnight Gracie by Julie Reece Deaver