Category: Name That Book Request

 I am remembering a book I read in the mid-90s, when I was around 10 years old. It’s about a teenage boy who either lives in or moves to a small town in rural California (I feel like I remember there being a line about “there was a sign on the road out of town where it said Los Angeles 567 miles [or some large amount] and someone had crossed it out and written 1,000,000 and honestly it might as well have been.”) Someone in his community teaches him and the other youths how to “witch for water”, or use a dowsing rod, and nobody is successful except him. He can feel the water through the rod by a sensation in his wrists and arms. Later on, he feels the same sensation without the rod, and discovers that he is essentially a human lie detector. There is a scene where he goes to help a friend’s dad as a border patrol officer on a state line, and helps them to confiscate illegal fruit that can’t enter the state for some reason (a big carton of cherries in one case, and like two apples in another.) The fruit-at-the-border isn’t the main plot thrust, but it’s the part I remember!! Thanks for the help :):)

Lost Classics reader Ceara writes: I’m almost certain it’s Liars by PJ Peterson! I remember reading the same book!

In 1959 my family moved & I did not to finish a library book I was reading. No title or author so slim clues but here goes: A boy, about 10 or 12, goes to live with his grandfather due to his Dad being made a manager at a soft drink plant (Coca Cola?) in the Philippines. His grandfather lived in desert, seemed like Arizona or possibly New Mexico & I believe it was a trailer a good ways out from town & boy rode bus to school. He had a friend nearby, a girl, & eventually they met an Indian boy who lived close by. They would slip out at night to watch the stars & just hang out together as kids do. One night they caught sight of what they were sure was a UFO landing out in the desert & they planned to head that way & see where it landed. That’s as far as I got! If this rings any bells with anyone, would appreciate a clue. It must have been a mid to late 1950’s book & I believe it was hardback, don’t remember a book cover if it had one. Thank you!

I am trying to remember a book but can’t find it. All I remember is the plot.

It’s about a girl named Harriet who meets a gambler named Jake who takes her money. She goes on his boat cause she hasn’t got anywhere else to go. She gets stranded on a island where she is forced to marry a rich old man and gives birth to Jake’s baby on the island. She names her Victoria. Jake comes back for her. The old man dies leaving Harriet his fortune. She builds an empire. In the end her and Jake get back together. I think this came out 80s or 90s. This is a 2 part saga.

I hope you can help! It’s driving me nuts!! Suggestion: A Promise of Gold By Joan Druett

 I am looking for a mystery book I read in the 80’s from the local library.  The book is probably older, maybe 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s.  Children find a scrap of metal.  They find out that years before a woman stole a hurricane lamp or a spirit lamp from a local shop keeper. When she tried to light it she set the building (it might have been a lighthouse) on fire.  Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

So, there is a book I’m trying to find. I’m afraid that I don’t have much to go on. All I remember is that it was a thriller plot, and that the protagonist girl was missing one finger. It was something she was embarassed about, and she was a loner at school, not wanting anyone to know unless they were a good friend or family.

At one point during a thunderstorm outside, she looks out her bedroom window and thinks there is somebody spying on her next to a tree.

This book would have probably been printed in the late 80s, possibly 1990 or so. I read it in my elementary school class around ’91.

Sometime in my junior high years (mid 1970’s) I read a book about a girl named Connie whose family had a sudden financial crisis. They moved to the poor side of town to live with Aunt Berta. Connie often returned to her former neighborhood, which was ruled by a stuck up snot named Leora Hyde. The only part I remember is Leora’s father trying to commit suicide in the garage, and Connie found him and pulled him out of the car. Suggestion from Lost Classics Reader reshpeckobiggle: Connie by Anne Alexander

Hello. Pls,I’m looking for a book. Its about a teenage girl who is a candy striper at a hospital. She meets a guy she likes but doesn’t know he’s a celebrity. Suggestion from Lost Classics Reader Julie: Could the Candy Striper book be the one by Lee Wyndham?

Suggestion from Lost Classics Reader Elayne: Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

Looking for a YA book that may have been published in the 60s or 70s. About a girl in college who has to choose summer internships/placements in public service. I think she wanted to go to a settlement house (like Hull House in Chicago) but instead goes to an orphanage and does good work there. So then she is given an opportunity to go to her preferred next placement, but decides to stick with working at the orphanage. Any ideas?? Suggestion from Lost Classics reader Cathie: sounds very much like Dear Enemy by Jean Webster, but it was written in 1915.