Author: mondomolly

 I am looking for a book I read in the late 80s-early 90s. It was about a 6th grade (I think) class that was terrible. They ran over teachers, subs, etc. until this teacher came in and turned thing da round using magic. Almost like a Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee situation. I remember crazy situations about spitballs or something similar and snippets of old childhood songs like “row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, throw your teacher overboard…” and “miss Suzy had steam boat, the steamboat went to…hello operator, give me number 9…” please help! Reader Suggestion: Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub By Jamie Gilson.  Update from requestor: the suggested title is, sadly, not the book I am thinking of. Another detail that I seem to remember is that it wasn’t just a sub. I seem to remember that it might have been a husband/wife sub duo???? Maybe…. UPDATED SUGGESTION: The Trouble with Miss Switch by Barbara Brooks Wallace  Update from requestor: not Miss Switch either, keep the suggestions coming! 

I read it in 7th grade lol.its about a girl,I can’t remember if she was a spy or had abilities,but some powerful people find her and she runs.finding out that the guy she likes isn’t who she thought and neither is she.i remeber reading that they stop and play a jukebox at a diner. Suggestion: Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix Update Lost Classics reader Cathie is confident this is not the title- keep searching!

Suggestion from Lost Classics reader Tamara: The Girl with Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts

Looking for a teen reader book from 70’s
The girl was coming of age, “Freddie” for short for Fredericka. Went on vacation for the Summer to the beach, Mother paints. A SECOND reader is looking for this book as well and has provided these additional details: 

I’m also looking for #55! Freddie Brewer & family drive to Long Island to their summer house on the beach. Grandmother brings along a potted chicken. They are joined by Freddie’s aunt and an uncle; the aunt kisses Freddie’s dad while she watches them, hiding behind a freshly-watered bush, ruining the hem of her tangerine dress. Freddie has just returned from her date, where guy put his hand on her breast while kissing her — very racy reading for a 12-year-old in 1971-72! A few other details might jog someone’s memory: Freddie writes poetry with a special pen. She buys a one-piece swimsuit (wisp of fabric) that stretches to fit her developing figure. She can remember herself as a toddler, with her mother as she paints on the dunes, trying to pick out the dark purple center of a Queen Anne’s lace blossom. I believe the word “Seventeen” might be the title, or part of the title, but all of my searching turns up the WRONG books — not Maureen Daly, Booth Tarkington, etc. What I especially remember is the cover illustration (art, not photo) of paperback (probably Scholastic): closeup of girl with long, straight, possibly sun-bleached hair, windblown, eyes downcast so we see her upper lashes (not her eyes) as she faces the reader, with beach/ocean in background. [I have to wonder if this book might have been banned due to that racy scene? Every other book I ever bought from Scholastic is out there in cyberspace, but NOT the one with Freddie Brewer!] I’ve searched titles, topics, genres, location, and Freddie as a character to no avail. Even extended perusals of cover images on Google, Etsy, ebay, etc. came up blank. I KNOW this book is real, and #55 query proves it!!! I read it school year 71-72, but it could date from 60s; that racy scene appears too contemporary for 50s. Anyone???

A THIRD reader remembers this one too, and adds: 
 I remember that they went to Moriches on Long Island and they made a joke about the mosquito bites and “more itches” 

Can anyone track this book down? Set during the Great Depression. Main character is a girl (Meg?) who becomes friends with a new neighbor (possibly Gwendolyn?) who is very snooty because her father has a good job. She has a fancy dollhouse with furniture and a scrapbook of the British princesses (Elizabeth and Margaret) they are both obsessed with. Later in the book, it gets found out her father’s good job was something illegal and he gets arrested, so they have to sell their belongings, are very poor, and leave the town in disgrace. Before leaving, she gives the doll house icebox and scrapbook to her friend, and apologizes for being so snooty.
I read this in the 80s, but it was an old book so could have been published in the 60s or 70s. Suggestion: The Majesty of Grace by June Langton

Looking for a book that’s like a kids version of A Simple Plan, where two boys find a briefcase or duffle bag full of money in the woods and start spending it on things like a trip to an amusement park, but eventually a bad guy comes looking for it. Would have read it late elementary school or early middle school in the mid to late nineties. Reader suggestions: The Runaways by Ruth Thompson and Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn

 I’m dreaming of finding a book I read in elementary school and lent out, but sadly never got back. Young adult, published before 1983 for sure. A boy from a small town was somehow lost, maybe on an island, and was alone for a while, unable to get home. Somehow he got back to his hometown, and on the day he arrived back, there was a town fair. He went up to the girl he had liked when he was younger who happened to be at a kissing booth at the fair, she didn’t recognize him, and he kissed her and said “you taste like strawberries”, and then she recognized him and was happy to see him again after so long.

 I’m junior high school I read a teen romance mystery novel about a high school couple who were torn apart by a boy and a girl. It was also Halloween and they were all trying to set up a haunted murder scene that took place many years ago. In the end both the bad boy and girl got busted for trying to harm the nice girl. I also think that there was something with a dress that used to belong to the murdered woman from many years ago and was worn by the nice girl. On the cover is a guy and girl holding each other. I would guess that this book came out in either the 80’s to early 90’s. Thanks.