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Lifton, Betty Jean, Kap the Kappa.  NY Morrow 1960.  No plot description, but the title is close. Kappas are a Japanese water-spirit, looking like children but with a depression in the top of the head which holds water. If the water spills out they are weakened. 

Just in case, check out Paulus and the Acornemn.  It's Dutch, Paulus is teeny tiny, the illustrations are fabulous, and he can fly, at least if he rides on the back of a bird....  Aside from that, no match....
Strong possibility: Astrid Lindgren, Karlson on the Roof  illustrated by Ilon Wikland, published London, Methuen 1975, 120 pages, also published Oxford UP 1958 as Eric and Karlsson-on-the-Roof. "He is a small and very stout and determined gentleman, and he can fly. Karlson has only to turn a knob which is just about in the middle of his stomach and - whoops! - a tiny engine which he has on his back starts up. Karlson stands still for a moment while the engine warms up. And then - when the propeller has got up enough speed - Karlson rises in the air and glides away, as dignified as a bank manager, if you can imagine a bank manager with a propellor on his back." He has a little house on the roof, behind a chimney stack, and says "Heysan hoppsan!" a lot. 

This one I'm pretty sure of: Karius and Baktus by Thorbjorn Egner. Published in English twice, first in 1962 by Bobbs-Merrill, then a different translation in 1993 by Skandisk. The 1962 blurb is "Karius and Baktus are Dental Trolls who live in the mouth of a small boy named Jimmy." The later version says "With names derived from tooth 'caries' and 'bacteria', these mischievous, microscopic rascals make life miserable for Erik, in whose mouth Karius and Baktus have made their home." It was first published in Norwegian in 1949.

M95 mud bath: Let's try this one - Karoleena, written and illustrated by Charlotte Steiner, published Doubleday 1957. "Karoleena has good intentions, but she always seems to get into trouble - like giving someone's lap dog a mud bath, and making friends with a goat who eats her hat. 2-color illustrations. Ages 4-8." (HB Oct/57 p.345 pub.ad)

There was a series called Katie John by Mary Calhoun...
Katie John is set in some midwestern state on the Mississippi River, like in Missouri or somewhere.  She does live in a brown stone house.
Frieda Friedman, The Janitor's Girl,1962.  I bought this from Scholastic or Tab in the early '60s. Kate is pictured on the cover. Her dad gets a job as the superintendent in a brownstone, and they move in. Her sister is aghast that they will become "the janitor's girls" to the snooty folks who live there (and, in fact, do). Kate gets a job sorting and delivering mail in the building, with her father's admonition not to read postcards.
The main character in the Janitor's Girl is Sue Langdon.
Jean Little, Kate, 1960?  I believe that this may be Kate, by Jean Little.  Kate does live in New York.  One of the few details I remember is that she has an uncle named Saul, and asks "Sol as in King Solomon" and he says "No, Saul as in King Saul."  She does definiely live in New York. She's also in Hey World, Here I Am and one other book by Jean Little, but I can't find the title!

Kate Smith, Kate Smith Stories of Annabelle, 1951.  I remembered that the book was written by singer Kate Smith, of all things, and I found it in the Library of Congress catalog, with the title listed as KATE SMITH STORIES OF ANNABELLE. They give its LC number as P28.5404 Kat FT MEADE.

I have written you twice already today.  You probably think I am nutz.  But I no longer need the bookstumper service.  I have the title of the book, which is Kathy by Aleda Renken.

Your featured stumper is definitely Kathy and the Mysterious Statue by Lee Kingman published by Doubleday in 1952.  I read it just two weeks ago for the first time, and it absolutely fits the plot description--sculptor father with a back injury moves his family to the town in Maine where he grew up in order to start a pottery business.  The daughter Kathy gets acquainted with his old art teacher who runs a furniture store and begins making miniature tea sets and solves a mystery involving a statue.

H9  This sounds very familiar.  Could you be thinking of the Katie John books by Mary Calhoun?  I think the first three (Katie John; Depend on Katie John; Honestly, Katie John!) were all written in the 1960s.  I know I read about the hot potato episode somewhere, and I read the first three books, so maybe it's in one of them.   There was a later book (Katie John and Heathcliff), but I didn't read that one and don't know when it was published.
Isn't that question referring to the Katie John books by Mary Calhoun?  I seem to recall there being a chapter about the potatoes...If so, there were  four of them--Katie John, For Love of Katie John, Honestly, Katie John!, and Katie John and Heathcliff.
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We love your web site.  What a great service.  My wife is looking for a series of adventure story books she read in the late 1950's or early 1960's featuring a girl named Karen.  They were sold through her school when she was in the fourth grade or so.  Sorry, but that's the only information I have.  Any help would be appreciated.

Two wonderful books, written by Karen's mother, Marie Killilea. Marie and her husband Jim started the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. The books are titled Karen, and With Love, From Karen.
I would have to disagree; the Karen books focus on Karen and her family and how they cope with her cerebral palsy.  They are wonderful books, though.
Tizz series, 1970s.  Could this be the Tizz series, about a girl and her horse?  (My sister's name is Karen, and I vaguely remember that she loved this series  for that reason.)  I don't remember the author, but the last name
probably began in the C - F range...
Bialk, Elisa. Tizz & Company.  Childrens Press, 1958.
Mary Calhoun, Katie John series.  I sent you this stumper a while back.  We've found the books my wife was looking for - the Katie John series by Mary Calhoun, the first three books of which were published between 1960 and 1963.  I guess memory plays tricks, since the main character's name was unfortunately not precisely Karen.
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I read this in the early 70's I think--about the adventures of a girl(age 10?) who was best friends with a boy, her next door neighbor, and they used a sort of pulley line connected between their houses whenever they wanted the other one to do something. I think there was an overgrown garden somewhere in the story.

Alcott?, Jack and Jill.  I don't know how old a book you're thinking of...but Louisa May Alcott's Jack and Jill is about boy and girl neighbours who both get hurt in a sledding accident, and send each other things over a sort of pulley line between their houses. No garden in that story that I can remember, though.
No, it was a more recent book, similar in style to Beverly Cleary. Thanks anyway!
Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen.  This is a real shot in the dark, but there are two children, boy and girl, who
communicate across flower boxes that link their windows in adjoining houses.  I think the boy's name was Kay.
Katie-John!  There was a series of books about Katie-John about this time.  She was about ten and her best friend was a boy named Edgar, I think.  I think one of the books has her holding the tin can, too.
I think that's it--The Katie John series by Mary Calhoun! Thank you!
Calhoun, Mary, Katie-John books.  I just finished re-reading the Katie John books, and there is nothing at all about a pulley system and messages.  Katie John's best friend is a girl named Sue, who does not live next door or across the street.  In the third book, Honestly, Katie John!, Katie does become friends with a boy named Edgar, but he lives in a cemetery (his father is caretaker) and they never communicate with anything resembling a pulley system.  There is a fourth book, Katie John and Heathcliff  that was written long after the rest of the series (in 1980) and takes place when Katie John is older and in high school that I have not read.

Sorensen, Virginia Eggertsen, Miracles on Maple Hill, 1956.  Not Vermont but Pensylvannia - could it possibly be this book about Marly and her family who move to her grandfather's farm when her father returns from the war.
What a great service!  I have been trying for years to remember the names of those books and you got them solved in a matter of days.  W178 is Patricia's Secret (I checked on the Internet and they even had one with the cover, which I remember, so I know it's the right one), F204 is The Unchosen and M325 is Marsha, thank you, thank you.   The last one, V40, sounds like Miracle on Maple Hill which I have read, but I don't think it is that one, although I want to get it from the library and double check before submitting a denial, it was a very good guess.  You have made my day, you have no idea!
Mason, Miriam E., Katie Kittenheart, 1957.  Although I can't find my copy to double-check the details, I'm pretty sure that Katie Kittenheart tells the story of young Katie discovering her bravery by helping a class of young children through a fierce storm. She admires her teacher and tries to emulate her behavior.  May be the one?
Jacqueline Jackson, The Taste of Spruce Gum
early 1960s?, approximate.  This is not Miracles on Maple Hill, although that was similar in plot and character.  I think the book I am looking for was more for younger children, not juvenile fiction.  Hope someone will recognize it, thank you!
I just looked at my copy of Katie Kittenheart: Katie has black hair and she's in the 4th grade. She goes to visit her Grandma Buckley in Kentucky, on an apple farm. The teacher at her new school leaves her in charge when a pupil breaks his arm, there is a flood, Katie takes care of the children overnight in the schoolhouse.  Stumper requester might want to look at Understood Betsy, too.
Miriam Evangeline Mason, Katie Kittenheart, 1957.  I think this might be it, thank you so much for your help, but I am going to get a copy of it to double check before I say for sure.  Thank you for getting me this far, I never thought it would be solved!
Miriam E Mason, Katie Kittenheart, 1957.  Katie it is!  Thanks so much for all the contributing suggestions, I love this web site!!
If this isn't Understood Betsy I'll eat my old straw hat. The only thing different is the bit at the end. Rather than being left to tend to the schoolchildren, Betsy and a younger school friend are abandoned at the county fair. They haven't enough money to catch the rural transit that would take them within three miles of home, so they connive a doughnut-seller into paying them to tend the booth while she takes care of some personal business. They are walking the remaining three miles home when Betsy's uncle finds them. 

Weber, Lenora Mattingly, Don't Call Me Katie Rose/ The Winds of March, 1965.  This sounds like an amalgam of Weber's first two Katie Rose Belford books, with possibly some confusion with another story.  The "aunt", a relative (Liz) from Ireland, is in Don't Call me Katie Rose  the toilet-in-the-hall anxiety is in the sequel.  Katie Rose has a group she eats lunch with, and a best friend, Jeanie, but not a "clique" problem.  Her actual aunt, Eustace Belford, gives her a dress and a fluffy white jacket in the first book, but the cover of the second shows Katie Rose in a winter coat with a collar that might look like velvet.  The five siblings, the mother who sings at "Guido's Gay Nineties", and Katie Rose's dislike of secondhand clothes, messy house and cracked eggs (as largesse from rural relatives) are in both, as are two boys, her crush Bruce Seerie and Miguel, a neighbor, whose real name is Michael Parnell.
This sounds like Don’t Call Me Katie Rose by Lenora Mattingly Weber. This is the first in a series about the delightful Belford family of Denver.  Katie Rose Belford is ashamed of her shabby home and that her mother plays piano and sings nights at an Italian restaurant. Her role model is her socially-prominent Aunt Eustace, her deceased father’s sister. On the morning Katie Rose and brother, Ben, are to start attending the new high school she first asks her family to call her by her given name, Kathleen. Later, before she and Ben enter the school she asks that he not make their mother’s job public.  I think the reader might be combining Bruce Serie, with whom Katie Rose falls in love at first sight the day before school starts, and who would care about the toilet in the hall, with Miguel, who wouldn’t. She meets Miguel a few hours before she meets Bruce, and he helps her clean house and move the toilet out of sight (for her anticipated visit from Aunt Eustace) in exchange for use of a purple pen. He becomes like one of the family and develops a crush on Katie Rose but she only has eyes for Bruce. The toilet in the hall is because mom wants to convert the downstairs closet into a half-a-bath (which happens in the next book in the series The Winds of March) but the project is on hold until she is able to save enough in her tip money for the conversion.
Weber, Lenora Mattingly, Katie Rose series.  I haven't read these books in more than 20 years, but some of the details sound familiar - didn't her mom work in a saloon/lounge as a singer?  And I know her family was Irish...
Lenora Mattingly Weber, Don't Call Me Katie Rose, 1964.  This is the first of the Katie Rose Belford series of books about the Irish Belford family living in Denver with a widowed mother who played the piano at Guido's Gay Nineties, Ben, Katie Rose, Stacy (after the glamorous and wealthy Aunt Eustace), and the littles--Matt, Jill, and a name I'm blanking on. Don't Call Me Katie Rose is followed by The Winds of March, A New and Different Summer, and several other books focusing on Katie Rose and then on Stacy.  The Belford series is scheduled to be reprinted shortly by Image Cascade who has already reprinted the Beany Malone books by the same author.
See the Back in Print page for some more info on Weber.
Thanks so much for all the contributions to solving my mystery. The Weber books about the March family are what I was remembering. Your contributors are absolutely fabulous to help solve this puzzle for me. Thanks again.

Could this be The Shy Kitten or maybe it is The Shy Little Kitten?  It is a Little Golden Book and it is about a little kitten who gets separated from her mother and littermates and finds a black puppy dog, and a mole and a frog to visit with.  The frog gets a bee in his mouth and the bee stings him and the side of his face swells up and the whole bunch of them jump into a pond to escape the bee.  Then, the kitten gets reunited with her mother.  It is a companion book, more or less, to The Poky Little Puppy and is illustrated by the same artist.
Color Kittens -- coming back into print
Both are Little Golden Books:  Schurr, Cathleen.  The Shy Little Kitten.  Illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren. 1956,  LGB #248  Revised in 1946 as LGB #494.  Brown, Margaret Wise. The Color Kittens.  Illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen.  1949, LGB #86.   Later reissued with new cover art as LGB #436.
Thanks for the hints!  I can't remember what the story line was, just that I could read the whole book. Will keep my eyes open for both titles.
In the 50's I had a book about 3 kittens.  The gray one hid from its mother in a stone wall; the black and orange one hid in the black-eyed susans; and I think there was a white one which hid in the daisies.  I know it was a Little Golden Book, but I cannot remember the name.
tHANKS FOR THE INFO, BUT THIS STILL ISN'T THE ONE.  tHE MAIN IDEA OF THE WHOLE STORY WAS HOW THE KITTENS HID FROM THEIR MOTHER(S) BY BLENDING IN WITH THEIR SURROUNDINGS.  PLEASE, KEEP TRYING-I'LL KNOW THE NAME WHEN I SEE IT.
Are K7 and K5 the same book?
I remember this book well.  Of course, I can't remember the name.  It was about a litter of white kittens and one black kitten, and all they want to do is play hide and seek, but when the white kittens hide in the snow, the black kitten isn't hidden, and when the black kitten hides in the dark, the white ones aren't hidden, so they can never play right. Finally, the white kittens all roll in coal so that they will match their brother, but unfortunately, the black one rolls in flour at the same time, so they still don't match.  Ultimately, they all get in a silly wrestling match until they are all black and white and no one can tell anyone apart.  I hope those details help.  It wasn't a Golden Book--it was a tall, flat, white book, I think.
I think that the answer to K5 is The Surprise Kitten.
Thanks again for the infor, but the name of the book is still unknown.  I will recognize it when I see it.  Keep thinkin'/lookin'--I appreciate your efforts.
#K5--Kittens:  This one has jogged memories of probably a different story entirely.  A white mother cat has three kittens:  one pure black, one white, one black with a white spot and paws.  The black-and-white one is self-conscious.  It rolls in coal dust to match the black one and in flour to match the white one, but they wash off.  Then another cat comes to see the kittens and says, "I was so hoping there'd be one like me."  Sure enough, he is the father, and he is black with white paws.  Could this be Socks?  Not the one by Beverly Cleary, but the Little-Golden-sized one?
I couldn't find any listing for a Golden Book or Elf book called Socks....
Take it back!  We have Socks here and it's about one outcast kitten trying to fit in.
K5:  Kittens--Socks by Betty Molgard Ryan, is a Whitman Tell-a-Tale which appears on page 467 of Santi's Collecting Little Golden Books, 4th edition.  What I'm asking, for anyone familiar with the book, is does it in any way fit the description I gave, or can they name a book which does? On the subject of kittens hiding, there's a Rand McNally Junior Elf Book, Mommy Cat and her Kittens, on page 347 and 369, with three different-color kittens, and I would have sworn there was one with the same cover with a title about kittens hiding, but of course I can't find it now.
On #K5, about the kittens hiding, I found the title I was thinking of.  It's The Kittens Who Hid From Their Mother, by Louise Woodcock, a Wonder Book pictured on page 384 of Santi's Collecting Little Golden Books Fourth Edition.  Not the same cover as the Junior Elf book, but does show a mother cat with three different-colored kittens.  The person who sent the stumper in may want to compare this and The Surprise Kitten and see if either one of them is right.
#K5--Kittens:  Socks, by Betty Molgard Ryan, is indeed a book I had as a child about a kitten trying to match the others, but I still haven't found the story which I think had three white kittens and one of another color, where the different kitten meets his father at the end, who says, "I was so hoping there'd be one like me."
This is just a title I came upon, I do not know the story line. Bootsy by Lucienne Erville, illustrated by Mirian Lear.(1959) It
is a Wonder Book.(# 741)
Kathryn and Byron Jackson, Katie The Kitten.  1949.  The reader is thinking of Katie the Kitten, a small tiger cat, is asleep in the hall, in a ball, in a hat.  Golden Books

Haskell, Helen Eggleston.  Just a guess since I don't have the books in front of me, but possibly Haskell's Katrinka series -- Katrinka, the Story of a Russian Child (1915), Katrinka Grows Up (1932), & Peter, Katrinka's Brother (1933).  The subject headings are 'ballet' 'brothers & sisters' and 'Russia' so it sounds like a real possibility.

So far I've found only two really worth checking: De Angeli, Marguerite. Thee, Hannah!  Doubleday, 1940.  Although this concerns a Quaker girl, it seems to me I was going to look at it as a possibility for my "Amish Sleepover" unknown, but never got hold of a copy to see if the pictures and story looked familiar.  If someone who has it could look to see if there's an incident where Hannah goes on a visit and isn't used to running water and so on it could either make or eliminate this as a possibility.
Later, regarding Thee, Hannah!: I found this book online and it's definitely NOT the "Amish sleepover," as it's set in the pre-Civil War era.  The book I'm thinking of took place in modern times, at least in the 1920s or whenever "city folk" had electric lights and running water as a regular rule.
Could be Plain Girl by Virginia Sorenson, illustrated by Charles Geer,  Harcourt Brace 1955, 151 pages (grade 4-6 reading level) "A sensitive, sympathetically told story of a young Amish girl's growing understanding of her people and their religion. Esther faced her first days at school with mingled curiosity and dread." (Good Books for Children 1948-61 Eakin, 1962) It may be at a higher reading level than the reader described, though, and no mention of visiting the city.
#A46--I'm pretty sure I've seen "Plain Girl" and it is not the book I'm looking for.
For a reversal of this, there's Wonderful Nice! by Irma Selz, published Lothrop 1960 "Alison, who lives in a tall apartment house in New York City, speds a day with Katy Zook on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, discovers that riches are not just a matter of money - and friends are 'wonderful nice!' Ages 4-8." (Horn Book Jun/60 p.183 pub ad)
let's try Katy, Be Good, written and Illustrated by Irma Selz, published Lothrop 1962. "The story of an Amish child who goes to spend an overnight visit with her friend who lives in the big city. Told in rhyme. Text uses the Amish speaking syntax and words like ferhoodled, schnoopduf and schwitz.
#A46--Amish Sleepover:  as "Katy, Be Good" is rather rare, I've been unable  to look at the book so far, but the plot and an example of the artwork online convinced me, so for now I am assuming this is the story I'm after.

Any chance this is Mystery in the Doll Hospital by Elizabeth Honess?  There are twins in the story and the doll that is being restored has sapphire eyes.  The doll belongs to a old neighbor whose father was a ship's captain
and he gave the doll to a man on his ship for safekeeping.  Unfortunately, the man was a jewel thief and hid gems
in the doll.  He was put in jail without recovering the jewels, died, and told someone else the story.  That man got
out of jail and tried to recover the gems.
hi. thanks for your response. Your synopsis of that book doesn't ring any bells, but it sounds like a great book. Again thanks for responding.
#D38:  If it's the one I am thinking of, this was one of my all-time favorites.  Amy's Doll, by Barbara Brenner, published in the '60s, illustrated with black-and-white photographs of Amy, her brother, and the doll.  Unfortunately scarce.  I'd love a copy!
D38 - doll hospital - might be Laura Bannon's Katy Comes Next, a favorite of mine, too.  A library catalogue synopsizes it as "Ruth's mother and father own a doll hospital where they are so busy repairing other children's dolls, they never seem to have time to mend daughter Ruth's toy" (but eventually Katy does get a complete makeover).
Katy Comes Next works for time period, here's more info: Bannon, Laura Katy Comes Next Chicago, Whitman 1959 hardcover, "Story ofa little girl whose doll, Katy, needs fixing and her father runs a doll hospital. Beautiful delicate illustrations."
this sounds like it. if you can find a copy ok
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I'm actually looking for two books and I don't have very much info. The first was a book about a doll hospital. It described the dolls, their clothes, and the family who fixed them.
the doll hospital book sounds like Katy Comes Next, listed on the Solved Mysteries page.
You and your website are BRILLIANT! Thanks much.
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Story about a woman and her little girl.  The Motherhad a little shop where she made and repaired dolls for a living.  One day she locked the door of the doll shop and worked on repairing her daughter's doll that had become very worn and broken.  It was a small book with a navy blue cover (it may have been rebound as it was a library book) with pen and ink drawings scattered throughout of the Mother, the daughter, the broken doll, and the repaired doll.  It was an old book and had an old-fashioned format/feeling at the time we read it in the "60's or 70's".  Fiction.

Sounds like Laura Bannon's Katy Comes Next from the Solved Mysteries page.
Possibly - Katy Comes Next by Laura Bannon, A. Whitman, 1959.  "Ruth's mother and father own a doll hospital where they are so busy repairing other children's dolls, they never seem to have time to mend daughter Ruth's doll."
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Child's parents run a doll hospital, but child's doll never gets fixed.  One day they finally fix it!

Bannon, Laura, Katy Comes Next, 1959.  "Ruth's mother and father own a doll hospital where they are so busy repairing other children's dolls, they never seem to have time to mend daughter Ruth's toy."

Payne, emmy, Katy No-Pocket, 1944.  Katy Kangaroo was very sad because she had no pocket to carry her son freddy.  Katy asks all the other animals carry their babies without pockets and finally end up in the city where she finds an apron with lots of pockets.
Katy No-Pocket.  Your details are a little off but I'm pretty sure you want Katy No-Pocket.  Katy is a kangaroo with no pocket and her little kangaroo has trouble keeping up with her.  The other animals offer solutions but none of those things work for Katy.  Finally she goes to the city and meets a workman wearing a big apron with lots of pockets.  He gives it to her, she puts her baby in one of the pockets, and hops back home.  Since she has so many spare pockets, she becomes a babysitter for a bunch of other little animals.
Emmy Payne, Katy No-Pockets.
Emmy Payne, Katie No-Pocket, 1944.  This sounds remarkably like Katie No-Pocket, although in this book it is Katie who is looking for a way to carry her baby because she has no poch.  After trying to imitate many of the other animals she sees around her she ends up in the city where a kind carpenter who gives her his apron which is full of pockets.
This stumper sounds a little like Katy No-Pocket, by Emmy Payne, but in that book, it is the kangaroo who hasn't a pouch to carry her baby in.  I have''t read Katy No-Pocket in years, but I think the solution to her problem is an apron with pockets.
Emmy Payne, Katy No-Pocket, 1944.  This sounds very similar to the classic Katy No-Pocket, but in that one, it is Katy
the Kangaroo who is sad because she has no pocket to carry her baby in, so she goes to the city in search of one.  She meets a workman who has an apron with lots of big pockets, and he gives it to her.  Katy is so happy that she puts ALL of the baby animals in her many pockets. (from an ex-Children's Librarian)
K51 This sounds like KATY NO POCKET by Emmy Payne, illustrated by H.A. Rey, 1944. Katy the kangaroo has no pouch and cannot carry her son. She goes to the city for help, and a carpenter gives her an apron with pockets.~from a librarian

This is just a guess, but it sounds like it could be Katie John (or one of the sequels) by Mary Calhoun.
Could be Katy Rose Is Mad by Carol Nicklaus published by Platt and Munk in 1975.
I remeber this story.  It was my favorite when I was 4 years old.  I do not know the author or title but I think the girls name was Katie Rose.  I remember how mad Katie Rose would get when her mischief would backfire.
Nicklaus, Carol, Katy Rose is Mad, 1975.  Katy Rose is so mad that she threatens to hold her breath until she turns blue. I found this info at the library of congress site.  I would like to thank the person who figured out the correct title and author- posted in blue on your site.
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Katie Rose is Mad or Katie Rose Wants to Play,  1976?  I think this is the same book listed as k22 under book stumpers.  I remember the little girl as being Katie Rose.  Katie Rose gets so mad each time she does something destructive and it backfires.  She throws blankets off her bed, drinks the last cup of milk that was supposed to go in a cake, and picks all the her mothers flowers growing in the flower box just to be praised for being so good.

The Katie Rose books are by Lenora Mattingly Weber(see Most Requested Books).   Mary Calhoun wrote a series called Katie John, both in the 60's.
Could be Katy Rose Is Mad by Carol Nicklaus published by Platt and Munk in 1975.
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It is about a girl (with freckles) who is trying to get across how mad she is by saying several times that she is going to hold her breath until she turns blue.  I'm sorry I don't remember much more than that!  It is very cute and I used to love saying along with her in the book "I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue!"

G111  Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, 1972.  Did freckle-faced Sheila Tubman (who later starred in her own Blume book, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great) badger the eponymous Peter with this threat?
I thought that the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was a chapter book (?), this one wasn't. The character was talking to her parents (whom you never see).  Does this still sound like that book?
Carol Nicklaus, Katy Rose is mad, 1975.  Is this it?  "Katy Rose is so mad that she threatens to hold her breath until she turns blue."
That sounds right.  I tried to find it online to confirm, but I can't find it anywhere.   I'm going to keep an eye out for it. Thanks!

Cassidy, Clara, We Like Kindergarten, 1965, Golden Books.  This is a possibility.  If you go to Google Images and enter the title in quotes, you can see two different covers for the book and see if it looks like the right book.
Clara Cassidy, We Like Kindergarten, 1965.  It's a Little Golden Book.  The little girl's name is Carol.  Wonderful Eloise
Wilkin illustrations!
Could this be Almost Big Enough by Jean Tamburine? It doesn’t exactly match, but there are a lot of similarities. A little girl can’t wait until she’s big enough to go to school like her big brother, and is very excited when she gets the chance to visit the kindergarten. The first half shows her playing at home with her duck, cat, and hen, and they do have a noisy tin-pan parade. Then she gets to march in a musical parade at the kindergarten.
You may be remembering a Little Golden Book titled We Like Kindergarten.  It has a black cover with a blonde haired girl holding up a finger painting.  The story is about a girl named Carol who is about to start kindergarten.  She has a little sister named Laurie and a dog named patches.  It shows all the things she does at kindergarten and in the end she comes home and plays the "Good Morning Song" on her piano and Laurie and Patches are her students.
S322 is called Katy Did.  The author's name is Jean Conder Soule.  It was illustrated by Aliki and is a Top Top Tales book.  My copy was published in 1962 by Whitman Publishing Company.
Jean Conder Soule, illustrated by Aliki, Katy's First Day  - A Going to School story.  A Whitman Tell-A-Tale book.  I am certain this is the book.  Katy wears a red dress and has hair the "color of butterscotch taffy".  She marches around the kitchen playing pots and pans. She doesn't want to start school but has to anyway.  Her mother slips a blue pencil in her
pocket as a surprise. She doesn't like school until she gets to lead the kids around the room playing a drum, just like at home!

Liebig, Nelda Johnson, Carrie and the Crazy Quilt, 1993. This is the only book I could find that deals with fire and a quilt, but I don't have a copy so I couldn't verify the storyline.  "Carrie's faith in God helps her to overcome her fears during the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871."  The sequel is Carrie and the Apple Pie.
 In an old third grade reader, Friends Far and Near-Ginn-(1966) there was a story matching this description. The burned corner of the crazy quilt is patched and then embroidered with the words "The Fire of 1868".It is attributed to Ruth Holbrook-Katy's Quilt-1940.This is one old story that matches.Perhaps there is some more recent book as well.
Friend's Far and Near, Katy's Quilt. I think this must be the source of the story I remember.  I grew up in Los Angeles where they used the Ginn series in the schools.  Thanks for solving this for me.

Judd, Frances K., The Mansion of Secrets, 1951.  this is the Kay Tracey Mystery Series.  The description fits exactly.  1. Double Disguise   2.  In the Sunken Garden   3. Six Fingered Glove Mystery   4.   Mansion of Secrets  5.  Green Cameo Mystery and 6. Message in the Sand Dunes
Francis K. Judd, Kay Tracey Mysteries.  Maybe it's this series, published in the 1940s? There's a web page that lists the books.
Frances K. Judd, Kay Tracey mystery stories, 1930s and 40s.  There were 18 Kay Tracey mystery stories by Frances K. Judd published in the 1930s and 40s.  Kay Tracey was a teenage detective with friends who helped her solve mysteries.  The volumes published in the 30s had yellow covers with a question mark on the spine.  There is a list of all the titles with plot synopses at this website.
Possibly the Kay Tracey Mysteries by Frances K Judd.  Characters include her mom Kathryn, Cousin Bill (a lawyer), and friends Betty & Wilma Worth.  There are a lot of books in the series, which was published beginning in 1934 and reprinted into the 1980's.  If you do an internet search, you can find lists of all the titles.
K74 Judd, Frances K [Stratemeyer Syndicate]. The lone footprint; a Kay Tracey mystery. Books, Inc, 1952.
I submitted the stumper regarding Kay Thompson, turns out she's Kay Tracey! That little minx. Stumper Solved.  Thank you so much for your efforts. I'm now on a hunt for Kay Tracey.

There were two books about Keeko that I had as a child.  The one I still have is Chee-Chee and Keeko by Charles Thorson published by Follett in 1952.  The other one was just Keeko or maybe Keeko the Indian Boy.
Yes, this does help, Harriett....I've found several copies of his old Keeko books on the 'net!  Thanks!
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Keeko, little indian boy and his forest friends, including an eagle that he tried to take a feather from.
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1950s childrens book:  I remember as a child a short story about a little Indian boy who want an eagle feather. He goes into the woods, falling asleep on a log he has a dream and when he awakens he has his Indian headdress.

Charles Thorson, Keeko, 1952.  By the creator of Bugs Bunny, this beautifully illustrated picture book is a sequel to "Keeko and Chee Chee" (1947).  It is about a little Indian boy who gets into all sorts of trouble while searching for eagle feathers for his headdress.
Thorson, Charles, Keeko, 1950s.  This is absolutely the correct book. While he is sleeping, Keeko's animal friends that he is so kind to give him the headress as a surprise. There is a second book titled Chichi and Keeko--Chichi is a bluejay.
Thorson, Charles, Keeko, 1947.  I have had this book since childhood.  Keeko is a little Indian boy who desperately wants to have a big feather headdress.  During his search for feathers, he falls asleep on a log and dreams he is given a headdress by a mother eagle in gratitude for saving her eaglet's life.  Then Keeko falls off the log, waking up from his dream.

S117 isn't a short story, but a book -- Monica Hughes's Keeper of the Isis Light, still in print.
Monica Hughes, Peddlar of Isis and two other books, 1980's?  I am sure the book is by Monica Hughes.  She wrote three books about the planet of Isis, and this girl with the mutated skin wasthe main character.  Hughes resides in Canada, and has written many great books.
Follow up to my e-mail yesterday.  I had a chance to check our library catalogue, and the title in question is Keeper of the Isis Light.  There are two sequels.
S117 This is THE KEEPER OF THE ISIS LIGHT by Monica Hughes. A great sci-fi read. This was one of my own personal stumpers that took me ages to find. Luckily, it was republished in 2000. ~from a librarian
Monica Hughes, Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980.  This has to be the one - down to the scaly UV protective skin her robot companion gives her - only trouble is it's a full-length novel - though not a long one! Unless it was published in an abridged version as part of an anthology of SF stories?
S117 THE KEEPER OF THE ISIS LIGHT by Monica Hughes 1980, 2000 ~from a librarian
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I am looking for what is probably a YA SciFi short story or novella, featured in a collection called "The Turning Point" or "The Vanishing Point" or something similar. The story centers on a young girl on an inimical planet. Her scientist parents have died, but previous to their deaths, they had genetically and/or surgically altered her to help her survive on the planet; I remember that her eyes had "nictitating membranes", perhaps to protect her eyes from dust storms. She was in the care of a robotic guardian of some sort, who is now her only companion. She was upset about not fitting in with the other humans (who had since settled the planet) due to the physical differences resulting from the alterations and is basically living in self-enforced solitude.

Monica Hughes, Keeper of the Isis Light.  This is almost certainly your book.
Monica Hughes, The Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980.  This has to be "The Keeper of the Isis Light" but it'\''s a YA novel rather than a short story. Perhaps portions of it were published as a short story. All the details fit, including the "nictitating membranes" (except the main character wasn'\''t nearly as upset about her appearance as the settlers were!)
T280 This is definitely KEEPER OF THE ISIS LIGHT by Monica Hughes~from a librarian.
I'm sure this is an Octavia Butler story, but I don't remember which one.
The Keeper of the Isis Light.  You guys have done it! I must have been confused about it being a short story  as soon as I read the summary of the plot, I knew that was it. Thanks so much!
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Looking for a book for teens I read about 1986.  The protagonist is a teenage girl who lived on a planet distant from earth, she's human and ended up alone there because her parents came as space colony researchers, they were alone there and had a child and eventually both died from radiation poisoning, the environment really is too harsh for humans.  She was raised by a somewhat humanoid robot and, we find out later, she was genetically altered by the robot for her own safety so she could live in the harsh environment.  Then, a whole group of humans come to setup a colony.  She lives high up on the cliffs, the humans set up their colony in the valley, it is the only place they can cope.  The robot makes the girl wear a special suit, he says it is to protect her from germs from the humans (she has never been exposed so they could kill her), but we find out later that was just a ruse, the reason for the suit was to conceal her now-alien appearance from them.  I would really like to find this book again to share with my niece, please let me know if you can help!  Thanks.

Monica Hughes, Keeper of the Isis Light. No doubt about it, this is the book.
Monica Hughes, The Keeper of the Isis Light,1980. Details match exactly.

Check the synoposis listed on the Solved Mysteries page for the Mystifying Twins.
T38 twins: could it be the first of The Page Twins series? (generally just called The Twins), written by Dorothy Whitehill, published Barse & Hopkins, and Grosset & Dunlap, 1920s. "It is about Janet and Phyllis Page, identical twins who were separated at birth by their vengeful grandmother, and who don't discover each other until they are 13. The series features locales from Arizona to New York to Europe, and the characters are interesting. Janet and Phyllis both marry in the course of the series. Thelma Gooch is the illustrator for Books 1 - 6." I wouldn't guess The Mystifying Twins because they don't seem to have been separated.
Grove, Harriet Pyne, The Strange Likeness,Saalfield 1929.  Another possible answer. Synopsis says "Classmates in a girls' school in Michigan who look uncannily similar find out they're twins, separated at birth. 236 pages." Nothing about a carnival, though.
From the poster's description, it is not the Whitehill series about the Page Twins. However, there's a good site for that series. Includes complete text of the first 2 books in the series.
Cooney, Barbara, The Kellyhorns.  NY Farrar & Rinehart 1942.  This was reprinted in 2001 in the "Lost Treasures" series. The date (1942) is right, and the plot seems like a good match. "Pam and Penny Kellyhorn are eleven-year-old twins, one living with an aunt, the other with their father and cousin, in small towns in Maine and have just met, but it doesn't take them long to learn to be sisters as together they help bring an arsonist to justice, and try to rekindle the romance between Aunt Ivory and Puppa. About the Author - Barbara Coone''s books for children have been loved by generations. Among the acclaimed books she wrote and illustrated are Eleanor, Island Boy, and Miss Rumphius. Book Description: Anne of Green Gables meets The Parent Trap in this delightful tale set in a small Maine island town. When Penny Kellyhorn meets Pamela at the county fair, she is certain that she's found her long-lost twin sister. Soon they are joyfully reunited. But then scandal hits the town and threatens their newfound family."

Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby, 1863.  This is a possible, though if you're looking for something more authentically Celtic, disregard this suggestion.  :) Tom, a young chimney sweep, is cruelly abused by his master Mr. Grimes. While cleaning the chimneys at a great house, he happens upon the daughter of the house and frightens/disgusts her - all covered in soot as he is. He runs out of the house and into the country. He then falls into a brook while trying to wash himself, where he is turned into a water baby (drowns). After "teasing the trout" etc, he realises he is lonely and then has various adventures while trying to find his fellow water babies. All very improving Victorian stuff, ultimately leading up to his forgiveness of Mr. Grimes, now also dead, and imprisoned in a chimney. An excellent description of this book is given by R. M. Fisher (Ravenna) in her review entitled "My name is Written in my Eyes" on the unmentionable website.
Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies, 1863.  Maybe this one? The stumper didn't indicate how old the book might be, but this classic has been reprinted consistantly, even updated by different authors. The 1916 color illustrations by Jessie Wilcox Smith can be seen online here.  The water fairies are more prominantly pictured in the line illustrations, as they are hidden from poor Tom until near the end of his adventures.
My sister was able to get her hands on a copy of the Water Babies and it is not that book.  Nowhere is there any mention of Kelpies in that book I guess...  This would be an older book - my oldest sister is 54 and it was when they were young...  I'm going to talk to all of them again to try to get more details.  Thanks!
Mollie Hunter, The Kelpie's Pearls, 1976.  Not this one, is it? There is also something called Janet Reachfar and the Kelpie but I couldn't find anything more about it.
Hi - thanks for the thoughts - those two books are both too new - I found those when I searched the internet too..   I sure wish my sisters would come up with some more details but so far they haven't...
Janet Reachfar and the Kelpie (by Jane Duncan, illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick, published by Seabury Press, NY) was published in 1976, so if you're remembering an older book, it's an unlikely choice.  The Kelpie's Pearls (by Mollie Hunter (also known as M. M. H. M. McIlwraith), illustrated by Joseph Cellini, published by Funk & Wagnalls, NY, 112 pages) was originally published in 1966, when your eldest sister was about 12 years old.  It was republished in 1976 with drawings by Stephen Gammell (Harper & Row, NY, 134 page).  Here is an online plot summary: "An old woman of the Scottish highlands makes friends with a kelpie, sees the Loch Ness monster, and practices some of her grandmother’s witchcraft."  I haven't seen or read these, and consequently don't know if they're a match, but the Library of Congress lists two older books with "kelpies" in the title: The Kelpies (1924) and The Kelpies Run Away (1930), both written by Etta Austin Blaisdell and illustrated by Clara Atwood Fitts.  The first book is 147 pages long, the second is 156 pages long, and both were published by Little, Brown and Company (Boston).
Could it possibly be Baum's The Sea Fairies?  As I recall, this is a story about a little girl, Trot, who with her bluff ship captain uncle goes to visit the mermaids.  I think perhaps Dorothy (Of Wizard of Oz - same author) also goes along.  It is not part of the Oz series, but same Art Nouveau illustrations and mix of humor (lots of puns) and adventure.  I've seen it reprinted lately.
I have the book printed in 1924, by Etta Austin Blaisdell, illustrated by Clara Atwood Fitts, published by Little, Brown, And Company.  The Kelpies lived down at the botton of the sea, pictured at front of book.  Two chapters on babies. The little baby lost and the little baby found.
Etta Austin Blaisdell, The Kelpies. (1924)  I think this is the book you may be looking for
I had not been on the site in forever.  Can you believe one of my sisters started searching again and she was brought to your site and saw the final message left about The Kelpies by Etta Austin Blaisdell, illustrated by Clara Atwood Fitts and THAT IS THE BOOK WE HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR FOR YEARS!!!!
Yippee!!!  Please thank whoever it was who wrote in with this answer.  My sister was able to find a copy and got it and we all enjoyed reading it last night with my parents.  Thank you so much again!
Etta Austin Blaisdell, Kelpies, 1920s.  Just a comment...there is a book that is the sequel to The Kelpies called "The Kelpies Run Away".  It was a childhood favorite of my mothers and mine.

Thank you for posting this!!  And before anyone mentions it, I don't believe what I'm looking for is the John and Mary British series by Grace James.
I can tell you for sure now that the John and Mary series by Grace James is definitely not what I'm looking for.  I located someone with one of the John and Mary series who was able to send me a scan.  They have black and white line drawings, and what I'm looking for has regular "filled in" pictures.
I am so glad to be able to tell you that you can now transfer my book stumper G296 Good Times Club from the archives section to the solved section!!  I was at a book sale this past Friday evening and found what I was looking for for 50 cents.  It is Kendall's Second Reader written by Calvin N. Kendall and Caroline Townsend, copyright 1917 by D C Heath Company!!

No idea if it was a series, but maybe the right subject: Olive Knox Little Giant (Miss-top-ashish): the story of Henry Kelsey illustrated by Clarence Tillenius, published Toronto, Ryerson, 1951 "Historical novel for young readers about an English boy who came to Canada in 1684 where he joined the Hudson's Bay Company, exploring Northern America, making friends with the Indians."
I22 indian scout henry: besides Little Giant (Miss-top-ashish) the story of Henry Kelsey, by Olive Knox, Ryerson 1951, other books about Henry Kelsey (assuming he is the historical character wanted) include - Little giant of the North: the boy who won a fur empire, by Alida Malku, published Winston 1952; and First in the west:  the story of Henry Kelsey, discoverer of Canadian prairies, by James Whillans, published Applied Arts 1955, but no series.
Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Moccasin Trail, 1952.  This might be a possibility.
Altsheler, Joseph A., Kentucky Frontiersman, 1989, reprint.  This is almost definitely one of the books in the series.
The protagonist is Henry Ware, who was captured and brought up by Indians but returned to an English settlement to warn of an impending Shawnee attack and later became a renowned scout and fighter.  (In fact, the full name of the book is Kentucky Frontiersman: The Adventures of Henry Ware, Hunter and Border Fighter).  I read a bunch of these when I was young
I think there were a total of eight in this series.  I remember in particular a passage from one of the books describing how, just after being captured 9or recaptured) by Indians, Henry was forced to run single-file with members of the tribe with his hands tied behind his back.  At the conclusion of a several-hours run, Henry and the Indian chief were the only ones who had never broken a sweat.

Parrish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure.  One of my absolute favorites!  Three children go to stay with their Grandparents in the summer.  Above the mantle is a picture with a key an indian headpiece and a pot.  Each of these things in the picture holds a clue of how to find the treasure.  The "key" in the picture opens an old stone in a part of the house.
Sounds like KEY TO THE TREASURE by Peggy Parish, 1966. Siblings Liza, Bill and Jed stay with their grandparents. When their grandfather tells him of a treasure hunt that his grandfather set up and that was never solved, they set out to solve it. I believe one of the clues was found in a secret compartment in a porch column, I think one was found when a feather from a Native American headress was pulled out, and the treasure itself was found hidden in a space under a stone in the old well. I forget what the treasure was though! I'll have to check my copy. And good news - it's still in print. ~from a librarian
Key to the Treasure, by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Paul Frame, published Macmillan 1966, 154 pages. "Liza, Bill, and Jed, spending the summer at their grandparents' farm, are determined to solve the puzzle of an often-told family legend of authentic Indian relics which, a hundred years before, vanished without a trace. Young readers will be immediately involved when the children accidentally stumble upon the first of the coded clues." (HB Dec/66 p.706)
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Grandfather starts the children on a treasure hunt around the farm with a clue that leads to other various clues that he has written that send them on to the next clue.  The treasure at the end is a key that unlocks…something.  Possible title, The Golden Key.  I read this book around the year 1967.

I was thinking this might be by Alexander Key, but that The Golden Enemy...  I think I'm just confusing the words together.
Peggy Parrish, Key to the Treasure, ca 1967.  This is probably the right book.  The treasure was hidden by the childrens'
great-great-grandfather in the Civil War, and the three children find the clues and hunt down the treasure while visiting their grandfather, who lives in the ancestral home.  It was a Weekly Reader Book Club selection.
MacDonald, George (1824-1905), The Golden Key.  Could this be George MacDonald's The golden key?  There was a reprint in 1967 (Farar, Strous and Giroux, New York).  The adventurous wanderings of a boy and girl to find the keyhole which fits the rainbo''s golden key. The Golden Key is the story of two children, a boy and a girl, who live (not together) on the border of Fairyland. The boy has been told that at the end of the rainbow he can find a golden key -- it is not to be sold, and no one knows what door it may open, but it will surely lead somewhere wonderful. One day he sees a rainbow, and decides to follow it into Fairyland, where it seems the end of it might be -- and there he finds the golden key. Meantime, the girl, much mistreated, wanders into the forest of Fairyland, following a strange owl-like flying fish. Soon she meets a beautiful, ageless, woman, and she learns that she and the boy must journey together, looking for the keyhole into which the golden key will fit.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure.  Looks like this was originally published in 1967, so the date matches.  Liza, Bill and
Jed are visiting their grandparents and discover clues that lead them to a hidden treasure. I'm pretty certain there's a real key involved, hence the title.
Peggy Parish, The Key to the Treasure.  This sounds a lot like The Key to the Treasure. Three children are staying at their grandparent's house, which is very farm-like (one child gets chased by a goose). They find a clue to an old treasure hunt in an Indian head-dress. The kids' grandfather's grandfather set up the treasure hunt, but the first clue was lost.
Peggy Parrish, The Key to the Treasure.  Just a guess-  the children are Liza, Bill, and Jed Roberts and their grandfather leaves them clues to find a treasure.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure.  Could be "Key to the Treasure"  The first clue is in an Indian headress, and it goes on
with more clues from there.
MacDonald, George, The Golden Key.  "The adventuous wanderings of a boy and girl to find the keyhole which fits the
rainbow's golden key."
Peggy Parrish, The Key to the Treasure.  This was the answer to a query on Abebooks, but it sounds as if it might be the answer to this one also.
Peggy Parish, Paul Frame, Key to the Treasure, 1960's.  This sounds like Key to the Treasure, which was published in the mid-60's, but in this book I don't think the grandfather made up the treasure hunt himself - it was a family mystery.
Parish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure, 1966.  The plot, the dating, and the approximate title look to me like a very close match for the Peggy Parish book KEY TO THE TREASURE (listed in Solved Mysteries), which I also read as a youngster.  As I recall, there are several sequels as well.
This was the book title I was looking for!  I really enjoyed this book during a summer at my grandparents camp in the mid 60's, but the book disappeared.  I see that it is still in print. Thank you to everybody who contributed to solving the mystery!  This is an awesome site with very thoughtful people.
This is an addendum to my earlier comment.  The correct title was The Key to the Treasure, by Peggy Parrish.  Thanks again to all who contributed.  I'd like to get this book for my niece and possibly the sequels, so this was very helpful.
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Children on summer vacation (a girl and two boys?) at grandparents? farm? see painting above fireplace of Indian headdress rubric which starts them out on a treasure hunt that their parents? never solved.  Obstacles include a goose that tries to keep them them out of a field, a wasps nest that needs to be smoked and disposed of so they can unbury a clue.  There's also a treehouse and well with purple stones.  One of the characters may have been named Billy.

Parish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure.  Bill, Liza, and Jed solve a mystery that their family has been attemping to solve for generations.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure, (1966).This book has been reprinted with a horrible cover (see Amazon).  At the end of the book, the children remove a brick and find things inside. What happens is these three children named Liza, Bill, and Jed try to figure a mystery out. This is how there'\''s a mystery to be solved. Their grandpa told them a story one night and he said when his grandfather was a little boy there was a bonnet hanging on the wall and the boy always wished he could try it on. One day he came downstairs and the housekeeper said he could try it on. He was excited. Then one day something happened that made everyone sad. The boy'\''s dad was going to fight in the army. But the dad left a puzzle. The boy had other brothers and sisters so the dad gave them envelopes with clues to a treasure. Their mom by mistake put the envelopes in her apron pocket. When she washed the apron, the envelopes were still in the pocket. So the envelopes got all soggy.  Each summer Lisa, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they'\''re on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?
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My description is VERY vague...it was a series of a few mysteries that I read in the late 70's or early 80's. They were part of my summer book club and were about 3(?) siblings (two girls and their brother) who go to their grandparents house for the summer and "solve" mysteries. I remember them worrying about grandparents house being haunted or scarey. I don't know if maybe a family member planted the mysteries/clues to give them something to do while on vacation. I remember a clue being found in a tree. I DO remember one of these being my first "100+ pager".

Peggy Parish, The Key to the Treasure.  This might be The Key to the Treasure -- the children visit their grandparents and discover a series of clues to a treasure that their great-grandfather had hidden on the farm before he went off to war (perhaps the Civil War?).  There was also at least one sequel.  I don't remember anything about the house being haunted, though, and I don't think that the Key to the Treasure is more than 100 pages.  But it's the first chapter book I remember reading, so it sounds as though it's about the right age bracket.  Good luck!
Except for the description of two girls and a boy, the Peggy Parish mysteries about Liza, Bill and Jed fit the description perfectly.  I think the mystery where they find the clue in the tree is "Key to the Treasure", which is listed on the solved stumpers page.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure. (1966)  This sounds like the Liza, Bill and Jed series of mysteries by Peggy Parish. The first was Key to the Treasure, followed by Clues in the Woods, Haunted House, Hermit Dan, Ghosts of Cougar Island....they've been in print most of the time since 1966 (and I believe are currently in print) so they could easily have been the collection you're thinking of (I know the first was at one time a Weekly Reader book)
Gage, Wilson, The Ghost of Five Owl Farm. (1966)  If it's not the Peggy Parish books, try Wilson Gage (pseudonym of Mary Q. Steele).  In The Ghost of Five Owl Farm, Ted and his twin cousins come to spend the summer at their grandparent's farm.  Ted wants to make the twins believe the farm is haunted, but to his surpise, spooky things do start to happen.  I think there might have been a sequel or series too.
Peggy Parish, The Key to the Treasure. (1966)  This is it!!! Thank you!!! I can't wait to buy these for my children!!!
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I'm trying to find a book that I liked as a kid.  I'm sure my neice would love it.  I don't remember the title or author.  I had this book in the 1960's.  Hard bound and illustrated.  Maybe 30 pages long?  The story is about 3 grandchildren visiting their grandparent's home for the summer.  The house has been in the family for many generations.  Over the mantel, the family has an old drawing made by the great grandfather before he left for the civil war.  The drawing is of an indian headdress, a small clay pot and a strange looking key.  The tale behind the drawing is that the great grandfather knew he would be away at war for a long time, so he left a series of clues for his children (which is the grandfather that the kids are visiting in the story) to follow.  The clues would lead to some kind of family treasure.  The drawing was just a teaser that he made weeks before leaving to keep the kids occupied.  The great grandfather gives an envelope with the first clue to his wife on the day he leaves for the army.  Unfortuneately, she puts the envelope in her apron pocket and then washes the apron.  The first clue is destroyed. The treasure remains a mystery.  The grandkids start playing with an old indian headdress that their grandfather has in a glass display case.  It looks just like the one in the drawing.  The bottom most feather comes out.  They go to glue it back in and find a rolled up piece of paper, which they pull out.  The grandkids discover that it is what would have been the first clue.  It is written in a simple code - numbers for letters.  Written on the paper is "All 26.  This is your first clue." This leads to a clue found inside a clay pot just like the one in the drawing.  This in turn leads to a key shaped like the one in the drawing.  This in turn leads to the family treasure.

Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure.  Look at the solved page for full details.  This is definitely the story you are looking for.  There is actually a series of books with the same characters.
Peggy Parrish, Key to the Treasure, 1966, copyright.  "Each summer Lisa, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they're on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?"
This certainly sounds like The Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parrish. Found under Solved- a much requested book.
Parrish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure.  See Solved Mysteries.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure.  I'm positive this is the first of the Liza, Bill, and Jed mysteries. Followed by Clues in the Woods, The Haunted House, Pirate Island Adventure, Hermit Dan, and The Ghosts of Cougar Island.
Parish, Peggy, Key to the Treasure.  Liza, Bill, and Jed Roberts stay at their grandparents' farm  one summer.  The kids' great great grandfather left the clues before going off to the Civil War.  I remember Indian artifacts but not exactly what kind.
Peggy Parish, Key to the Treasure.  Sure sounds like this Peggy Parish book, except you think it was only 30 pages long.
Peggy Parish, The Key to the Treasure, 1966, copyright.
Peggy Parish, The Key to the Treasure, 1966, copyright.  "Each summer Liza, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they're on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?" The first in a series of Liza, Bill and Jed mysteries. Other titles include: The Haunted House, Pirate Island Adventure, The Mystery of Hermit Dan, The Clues in the Woods, and The Ghosts of Cougar Island.
Parish, Peggy, Key To The Treasure, 1966.  This has got to be it.  It's in the solved stumpers.
Peggy Parrish, The Key to the Treasure, 1966, copyright.  I'm almost positive this is the one... "Each summer Lisa, Bill, and Jed visit their grandparents, and they hear the story of the sketches hung above the mantel. The sketches are clues to a hidden treasure, and no one has been able to figure them out for a century. There is a missing first clue, but when the children stumble upon the second clue, they're on their way. Could it be that on this visit they will solve the secret that has eluded so many for more than a hundred years?"

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Parish, Peggy.  Key to the Treasure.   Illustrated by Paul Frame.  Macmillan, 1966.  Hardback.  G+  $10

Kid Sister, 1958, by Margaret Embry. This book works like a karate chop on stereotypes from that period. Not only is Zibby brazenly atypical as a fictional female character, but so is her elderly aunt. On top of that, Zibby's more "feminine" older sisters are nasty and have far less maturity and appeal.

Rosenbaum, Eileen, The Kidnapers Upstairs, 1968. This has to be the book you are looking for, the plot is exact!  We happened to pick it up at a yardsale last year.

The kidnapping of the coffee pot / story by Kaye Saari ; pictures by Henri Galeron.  [New York]: Harlin Quist, 1975.   A coffee pot, a lawn mower, and a pair of old shoes live happily together in the city dump until the coffee pot is kidnapped.
K9 kidnapping of the coffee pot: The suggested author and publisher are correct, and there can't be two books with this title!

Dorothy Bennett, The Golden Almanac, 1944. Doesn't have a red cover with a white grid on it but a beautifully illustrated pink cover by Masha.  A Big Golden Book, it has poems (including one about Jack Frost), songs and stories about the months and seasons although I can't find one about the saint that you mention.
Randy Harelson, The Kids' Diary of 365 Amazing Days, 1979, copyright.  I found it! This is the book I was looking for! :)

Hi, I have C75. It's called The Kids' Kitchen Takeover and the author is Sara Bonnett Stein. It was published in 1975 and includes all the recipes and activities mentioned, including many more! 

Patricia Reilly Giff, The Kids of the Polk Street School series. (1984-1986, approx)  Sounds like the first "Kids of the Polk Street School" series by Patricia Reilly Giff, which came out in the mid-80s.  The books are very thin.  Book 4, "December Secrets" has the fire truck scene (two girls ride up front
 Jill, who is chubby, gets to wear the fireman's hat, much to the chagrin of the other girl).  Book 11, "Sunny-Side Up" had a picture of kids playing in an above-ground pool on the cover. The books were recently released with new covers/illustrations, so don't be dismayed if your search turns up unfamiliar covers at first.

Make it a teenager and this could be My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.
T42: Sounds like Lloyd Alexander's Wizard in the Tree. The wizard is actually sucked into the tree and
kept a prisoner until an orphaned girl servant lets him out, and she still has to help him until he finds out how to get home. Not as much fun as the Prydain Chronicles, but the message is the same - that magic ultimately isn't what matters in life and that happiness and respect are found through work and acceptance of moral responsibilities, not luck or daydreaming.
Might also be Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery.  The tree forms the back of a man's house in the woods.  He actually has families of animals living with him.
Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery, Doubleday 1950 sounds the most likely, "When old Jerome Kildee went to live in his redwood grove, he meant to be a hermit. His odd little dwelling, backed by a giant tree, was set in the midst of his hundred California acres ... a big raccoon thought he owned the tree, and presently a pair of skunks set up housekeeping under the floor ... Emma Lou discovered it and then came Donald Roger ..."
---
This was a juvenile novel read circa 1955.  It was about a man named Jerome who lived in a hollowed-out tree.  He had a skunk for a friend, and racoon, a deer, and mice.  All the animals in the story were his friends.  There was no plot that I can remember, just that Jerome was friends with these animals, many of whom visited or lived in the tree with him (the mice had their own little door, others came and went).

Montgomery, Rutherford, Kildee House, 1949. I'm pretty sure this is the book you're looking for. It's a 1950 Newbery Honor book.
Montgomery, Rutherford, Kildee House, 1949.

Killer of Death.  I read a book in the late 1970's, I believe titled "Killer-of-Death", in which an Apache youth is sent on some kind of quest into Commanche territory. Another young man from his village goes with him, some kind of rivalry/dislike between them. There is one scene where the protagonist is hiding as he watches Commanches kill a whole family from another tribe (don't remember if it was grass he was hiding in). As it turns out he has more to fear from his traveling companion than enemy tribes. When he returns safeley home he is given the name "Killer of Death". Don't know the author, haven't been able to find it at my local library.
A233 Someone else posted the answer of KILLER OF DEATH. I found author info to go with it: Betty Baker, published by Harper & Row in  963~from a librarian
Betty Baker wrote Killer-of-Death (c. 1963).
Betty Baker, Killer-of-Death, 1963.
A233 If it is Killer of death, it is by Betty  Baker.

I have already found out the book. The title is: Kincaid's Book of Witches, Goblins, Ogres, & other fantasy. 

Janet Gillespie, A kind of Summer Love, 1971.  Abridged from A Joyful Noise The family has an old Dodge called 'The Artful Dodger', and in the first chapter the author reminisces about loading (or overloading) the
car. Her father is a chaplain at Princeton, her grandmother teaches her botany, and her cousin Tink is developmentally disabled. I think that this is the book!
Oops! Tink is her grandmother's son.
Janet Gillespie, A Kind of Summer Love, 1971. Abridged from A Joyful Noise. I sent this in once before, I'm certain that this is the book as I've since reread it. All the details match. 

Jolie Epstein, The Kindles Find a Home. (1985, approximate)  I'm pretty sure this is the one you want.  I LOVED the Kindles when I was young.  The witch they hide from is Eyevil (I think that's how it's spelled).  They end up finding a land with a beautiful waterfall inside a crystal dome
Jolie Epstein, The Kindles Find a Home, 1985, copyright.  I'm looking at my copies of both of these books right now! They are, indeed, "The Kindles Find a Home" and the sequel "The Kindles and the Lady of Light," both published in 1985. "Welcome to the magical land of the Kindles! It's a fantasy forest where music makes the honeybud trees grow. The Kindles love to sing with gladness, but now an evil sorceress named Eyevil wants to end their happiness forever. It's up to Sparkli to lead the rest of the Kindles out of danger. They embark on a quest to find the Gloracle, who tells them about the domed Crystal Mountain, an enchanted place where they can live together safely."