Author: mondomolly

 I was born in 1958 and I remember a book that I read over and over when I was a young teen. I was wondering if you could help me find it.

It was about a girl, I think her name was Amanda, (because I liked the character so much, I always liked that name after). She goes to visit her fiance’s family for the first time, and they live in a big house on the Hudson River. I keep thinking the title is “Anead on the Hudson,” or something similar.

I would love to find that book again. If you know of the book, it think you do, I would really appreciate any help in finding it!

There were two stories I read right around 1980, books I checked out from my library, and I’ve never been able to find them in recent years. One or both of these stories may have been in a collection of stories, rather than a full kids’ or YA novel.One was a story about a boy whose family had moved into a house that had a big scary tree in the backyard. Each night the boy saw that the tree’s shadow crept closer and closer to his bedroom window. Finally in the end there was some conflict re a witch, and they chopped the tree down and filled the hole where the stump was with concrete.The other story was about a boy who loved next door to an old man, but it turned out the man was a vampire, and he trapped the boy in his basement, where there were coffins filled with dirt, I think. Suggestion: Apt Pupil By STephen King- the neighbor in question was an escaped Nazi war criminal, not a vampire, but the rest of it sounds close! Another suggestion: Prisoner of Vampires by Nancy Garden

The book is about the blitz in London. A boy and a girl meet in the underground tunnels as they take shelter from the bombings during WW2. I think fire is in the title. Suggestion: Fireweed by Jill Paton Walsh

I probably read this book in the early 80s and I think it was new. A teen girl living near Gardiner, MT is the main character. Her family has horses, maybe a ranch. Her 16th birthday is coming up, and her older sister Althea (I think) disappeared when she was 16. The main character’s father is suddenly encouraging her relationship with a boy. Her mother is kind of upset about that, because she knows why he’s encouraging it.Turns out that the women in the family are given a choice at 16: to go on with a normal life or join some kind of magical society living deep in the forest. I’ve googled everything I can think of and can’t find this book! Suggestion: Becoming Rosemary by Frances Wood

 I remember reading a book in the 70’s. Young girl on a solo adventure through rugged terrain (maybe mountains). At one point in the story she becomes very ill with diphtheria and is helped by a stranger who nurses her through the illness, and somehow even uses a straw like instrument to remove the cob webby coating from the back of the girl’s throat. That’s about all I remember. Any thoughts?  Suggestion: Merlin’s Keep by Madeline Brent

I came upon your website as I was searching for a teen lit novel I read, probably in the 1980s about a teenager (boy?) who adopts a bat, which changes his life and the perceptions his friends and family have about bats.

 I remember reading this book in the early 2000s. it was about a rich couple, I think the wife wanted to be a singer and perform. there were many mentions of a briefcase if I remember correctly. there was a driver with a town car, I think a rolls Royce or Bentley.

please help! thank you in advance!

 Hoping someone will remember this one! It’s a historical mystery that takes place somewhere in Scotland. The main character’s name is Phoebe, and she goes to visit (or possibly live with) her sheep-farmer relatives in the Highlands. She has twin cousins named (I think) Ronald and Gavin. There’s a mystery about a castle on a nearby mountain where a Very Bad Man called (I think) the Monster of Something-or-Other used to live, and he either stole all the money belonging to everyone in the surrounding village or forced them to give it to him. Everyone is now extremely poor. The castle is either haunted or they think the Monster still lives there… anyway, everyone is terrified of it and stays far away at all times. Phoebe’s cousins have been absolutely forbidden to even mention it, but of course they do. When Phoebe hears the story, naturally all she wants to do is visit the castle and solve the mystery, even though her cousins try their best to talk her out of it. They do end up solving the mystery. I don’t remember all the details, but one part I remember vividly is that they find the Monster’s skeleton sitting on top of a chest containing all the missing money. I believe there’s also a section where Phoebe’s aunt teaches her to use a spinning wheel. The version I had was a paperback, and I read it sometime in the mid-70s. If anyone remembers this, I would love to track it down and reread it. Thanks!

I read a novel in the early 1970s about a white teacher who moves to the inner city to teach at the all Black high school, He is a single dad with a high school age daughter who will attend the high school. It is about the friends she makes, living as the only white people Suggestion: Hey, White Girl by Susan Gregory