Alice's Books for Sale
OUR LATEST REVISED LIST -- JUNE 2009
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A Long List of Books Linda Burns has for Sale
A long list of books that Carol Hirsche has for Sale.
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IT'S A FREE SERVICE TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SELLVINTAGE CHILDREN'S BOOKS
BILLHEIMERS' BOOKSALE LIST FOR JUNE, 2009 Here's a new sale list for this month, with some exceptionally interesting books for you to examine and perhaps want to buy. They're predominantly vintage books for teens and young adults, but there are some for younger readers and a few that were originally meant for adults. We think you'll find this list fascinating and nostalgic, as well as reasonably priced! We have a lot of fun collecting books and compiling this collection! ******We recommend asking your browser to reload or refresh to make sure you have the latest version of our web page.******* SOME OF THE CONTENTS!! (Not necessarily in this order) 1. MANY JUDY BOLTON, NANCY DREW, AND TRIXIE BELDEN BOOKS! 2. SEVERAL SPECIAL SALES HERE AND THERE! 3. A BIG SECTION OF YOUNG ADULT MYSTERIES THAT COULD ALSO BE "MALTSHOPS ROMANCES," OR TEEN NOVELS 4. Some CAREER-ROMANCES, a very popular category! 5. FOR HOME-SCHOOLERS, some NEWBERY award winners, the non-fiction books, as well as other wonderful books to read. 6. FOR SERIES book collectors: you'll find many new additions of popular as well as unusual series to check out! This month's series book additions are especially great! 7. Lots of additions to the "MALTSHOP" novels from "the nostalgia years." Many used book shops don't bother to stock these categories, so this is an unusual chance to stock up up on these teen-girls' novels from the 40s through 60s. 8. BOOKS BY WONDERFUL AUTHORS!! INCLUDING MOST OF THE FOLLOWING: Mildred Wirt Elizabeth Hamilton Friermood Marjory Hall Betty Cavanna Maud Hart Lovelace Janet Lambert Catherine Woolley hundreds more!! 9. GREAT SERIES BOOKS (NOT ALL OF THEM EVERY TIME, BUT WE TRY!) Judy Bolton Maida Trixie Belden Nancy Drew Linda Craig Jean Craig and some interesting ones you may never have seen before! 10. Tons and tons of MYSTERIES! 11. MAINE books from our home state. 12. ALICE'S PICKS -- books that I love best 13. Alice's Wish List 14. Animal stories 15. Books written mainly for boys 16. Historical novels for young adults Contents won't be in the same order as this list, but everything is there, somewhere ******************************************************************** PRICES OF THE BOOKS REFLECT Condition Popularity Scarcity My opinion of them! *************************************************************************** We only use a few abbreviations, including these: HB -- hardcover book PB -- paperback book XL -- library discard book DJ -- dust jacket PC -- picture printed on the cover YA -- young adult (teen) book cond == condition If you don't understand something in our sale list, Email and ask us. ******We recommend asking your browser to reload or refresh to make sure you have the latest version of our web page.******* OUR POSTAGE POLICY We weigh all orders, and charge the actual postage that we figure out from a chart. If we feel that we will be using a lot of padding, and packaging, that's figured into the price. . All will be sent Media mail unless you want to pay more for 1st class or whatever. If you want insurance, we'll figure out how much extra that will be FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!!!!!!!!! WE ACCEPT PAYPAL!!! ******************************************************************************************* ALICE'S WISH LIST!!!! WE'LL BE HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT TRADING FOR BOOKS ON OUR WISH LIST Condition isn't important unless I specify that I'm looking for an upgrade. MY WISH LIST! I'd like hardcover copies of the following Janet Lambert books: For Each Other Welcome home, Mrs. Jordan Jean Nielsen -- Walk Under the Trees good hardcover with DJ of Fair Exchange SOME BOOKS BY RUBY RADFORD MORE OF MY WISH LIST -- REMEMBER THAT I'D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT TRADING! Jack and Jill magazines from the 30's through 50's. I'm missing a lot from the late 50's. Condition does not have to be perfect, but will affect how much I'm willing to pay! Usually, I've paid $1 or $2 per magazine. Also, American Girl Magazines (not the ones related to the dolls, but the Girl Scout Magazines from the '40s and '50s!) I have some, but would like to have more. Calling All Girls magazines from the 40s and 50s The Fabulous Year (Elizabeth Ogilvie) in HB with a DJ. Or if you have a copy with a DJ, maybe you could make a copy of the DJ to cover my "naked" book! MORE OF MY WISH LIST! Triumph Clear by Lorraine Beim Books by Fjeril Hess, including Toplofty, Castle Camp, and others. Books by Margaret Sutton Haunted Apartment Gail Gardner, Jr Cadet Nurse REMEMBER, THESE BOOKS ARE NOT FOR SALE, THEY ARE ON MY WISH LIST!!!!! Dust jackets for Emery's Bright Horizons One of the Crowd "Best Friends in Summer" by Mary Bard Books by Virginia Fairfax -- Camp Pioneer, Secret of the Halliday House. REMEMBER, THESE ARE MY WISH-LIST BOOKS! (Sorry, but they aren't for sale.) AND REMEMBER THAT I'D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT TRADING SOMETHING ON MY SALE LIST FOR SOMETHING ON MY WISH LIST! --------End of Alice's Wish List ----------- ********************************************************* TO START THIS MONTH'S LIST ******** HERE IS A VERY SPECIAL OFFERING! ******** ALICE'S "CHARMING SISTER SARAH" HAS MADE SOME BEAUTIFUL SERIES BOOK GIFTS! FOR YOURSELF OR FOR GIFTS!!!-- CHARM BRACELETS FOR BOOK LOVERS!!! MANY STYLES OF SERIES-BOOK BRACELETS (SHE'LL ALSO WORK WITH YOU TO MAKE A CUSTOM-MADE BRACELET ! MY OWN SERIES BOOK BRACELET HAS CHARMS TO REPRESENT JUDY BOLTON, NANCY DREW, CHERRY AMES, VICKI BARR, AND MALTSHOP BOOKS! SARAH ALSO MADE ME A MUSIC BRACELET FOR MY "DAY JOB" AND A SPECIAL "ALICE BRACELET" WITH ALL KINDS OF CHARMS THAT JUST SAY MY NAME! YOU CAN CHOOSE CHARMS TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR FAVORITES BOOKS, OR FILL A BRACELET TO MAKE AN AMAZING GIFT FOR A SPECIAL PERSON. INCLUDING ++++NEW +++ CHRISTMAS BRACELETS IN MANY STYLES! I KNOW SARAH WOULD TRY TO GET YOUR CHRISTMAS BRACELET -- OR ANY OTHER BRACELET -- TO YOU IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS! Alice's sister Sarah has made some special charm bracelets for people who love series books and Maltshops! There are many styles, each one with a theme. There are Judy Bolton bracelets, Nancy Drew bracelets, Teens-of-the-50's bracelets, general Series Book bracelets. They were first seen at the Phantom Friends' Reunion in Mount Dora Florida, where we sold out almost immediately. You will LOVE this fine jewelry: I can assure you. I should know, I wear my three "Sarah Bracelets" everywhere! The CHRISTMAS charm bracelets are more beautiful than you could believe, without seeing them! Colorful, varied, imaginative, you will wear yours for the rest of your life! If you would like to see some sample bracelets you can click here: http://www.midcoast.com/maltshopbooks/charms.htm ################################################################# NOW FOR THE BOOKS! BEGINNING WITH A $2.00 SALE! Each of the following books will cost $2 Very good values!! Nancy Drew Hardcovers, all in great condition! New edition shiny yellowbacks in fine cond -- $25 Ghost of Blackwood Hall (one of my favorite covers, Nancy is so beautiful on this one! $2.00 #33 Witch Tree Symbol, $2.00 Nancy Drew Paperbacks $2 each. These are mainly in very good condition! #83 -- The Case of the Vanishing Veil (takes place in Boston, and th Nancy Drew Ghost Stories -- "Six Bone-chilling tales of Mystery and Terror!" $2 River Heights #1 - 1989. I'm not sure whether this series is still in existence, It featured Nancy's neighbor, Nikki. Small size, cute kids on cover. $2.00 The preceding books are all $2 each +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEXT, A SPECIAL SECTION OF MAINE BOOKS AND A FEW BOOKS FROM OTHER NEW ENGLAND LOCATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS, TOO. We think that some of the greatest authors in the world live or summer in Maine! Try one or 2, and you may decide to come to Maine yourself. I can hardly believe how much some of these books are getting on Ebay and other places! I knew they were good, but didn't realize that other people knew it, too. My prices are no more than 1/2 of what they are getting other places. Most of my copies are x-lib, but some are very good! Surprise of their Lives (Hazel Wilson) 1957. This book takes place in 1910, in Portland, Maine. It's Fun, Cute, and of course Surprising! 157 pages, so probably aimed at middle-grade readers, it tells about a nice family, full of fun and mischief. In the first chapter, the main character turns 11, and gets a bike for her birthday! Ride along, and go exploring old Portland with her. The 2nd chapter is a wonderful description of what 6th grade was like 100 years ago (do you think kids were little angels then?) We work our way through holidays -- thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween -- and even a wedding. A great look at a past time without a bit of sentimentalizing or patronizing. There are lots of food descriptions, fun with the kids when they try to make money in various ways, and at the end, of course, THE SURPRISe of their Lives! HB, XL, very nice illustrations. $3.00 Down East Detective: True Stories of the Maine State Police (Karen Lemke)1987. An oddity, sort of fictionalized accounts of famous cases in Maine between the 1920s and 1960s. The PB book has a cover that looks more like the front page of a tabloid newspaper. If you like true crime, with humorous twists, try this one. PB, $1.25 How Many Days Until Tomorrow? (Caroline Janover) 2000. I don't know why, but this PB book has a price-tag of $11.95, which sounds high for me, but I guess it's from a small press (Woodbine House) and is written especially as the sequel to another book about the same boy, who has dyslexia. In this one, he and his rather mean big brother spend the summer with their grandparents on a remote Maine island. Gramps is better named Grumps, though the grandmother does her best to make the boys happy. Wonderful contrast between the 2 boys, but in the end (and it tells you this right on the cover, so I'm not spoiling the ending) the boy with dyslexia learns that there are other ways to be smart, besides being a good reader. PB in great condition, $2.00 Miss Rumphius (story and pictures by Barbara Cooney) 1982. This is a famous book in Maine, by one of our best-loved author/artists. The question is -- where did all those gorgeous lupines come from, growing along the roadsides every spring? Miss Rumphius loved Maine, but she thought there should be more beauty, so she spread lupine seed everywhere she went. After all this time, the lupines still increase every spring. You should see my front yard in May and June!!! HB, XL, big picture book format, $1.50 Our Way Down East (Elinor Graham) 1943. There are at least 3 books of essays by this entertaining writer, who mainly talked about Maine during WWII, and the early years of her marriage and motherhood. They're chatty, breezy, full of details that will tickle you ("There is nothing more cunning than a baby goose. It's black button eyes and the chartreuse-to-gold of its down makes it infinitely more interesting than a baby duck. And of course geese are more intelligent than ducks.." Did you know any of that?)The very first chapter, Two Christmasses, is worth the price if you, like me, absolutely love detailed Christmas stories. County fairs, picnics, collecting buttons (she wrote another book called "Maine Charm String" about her button collecting among other things.) I love to pick up these books and read a chapter here and there. HB, somewhat worn, but appealing-looking. $2.00 The Maine Reader: The Down East Experience from 1614 to the Present. This huge paperback has chapters by a wide variety of authors including Sarah Orne Jewett ("The Town Poor") and Kenneth Roberts ("Seamen and Sea Serpents") plus Thoreau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Sinclair Lewis ("George F. Babbett Takes a Maine Vacation.") Lots of contemporary writers, too. We like to think that Maine produces the best writers in the world -- who knows why? The beauty? The solitude and long winters that give authors a chance to settle down and write? Well, you can make your own decision, and see the sweep of history through the eyes of many Maine authors of great talent. Very large PB, $3.00 (it may take more postage than most books, but we'll weigh the order to make sure!) ++++++++++++++++++++++++ MORE MAINE BOOKS! Books by Maine writer, Lew Dietz. These have a great appeal to people who really love the back-country forests. He wrote about boys, but anyone would enjoy reading them for the authentic (but very entertaining) stories of life in the wilds. Wilderness River (Lew Dietz) 1961. How's this for a begining sentence? "It was a warm Indian Summer day in late October that my friend Nick Fales and I found the body in the woods." Deitz wrote "boys' books," but anyone who enjoys reading about adventure in the Maine woods, would love them. Most of them are about Jeff White, but this one stands alone. It's a former library HB, but in almost pristine condition. Someone put a clear plastic cover over the library picture cover, and it would leave marks inside the book if you removed the plastic, so I didn't try. Enjoy it! $4.50 Pines for the King's Army (Lew Dietz) 1955 (first edition if this means anything to you.) Historical 1721. Maine woods when they were the true wilderness, complete with "savages." Several dramatic full-page illustrations. XL, HB, Somewhat worn, but tight binding and clean pages. $3.00 Lost on a Mountain in Maine (Donn Fendler) 1939. This story is very famous in Maine. All the school kids read it, and the author has often visited schools to talk about his ordeal on Mt Katahdin when he was 12. He wandered around the wilderness for 2 weeks, after losing the rest of his party in the fog. PB in very good cond. $2.50 Donn Fendler, fair condition -- READ IT, I'M QUITE SURE YOU WILL GET A KICK OUT OF THIS BOOK! PB, fair, $1.00 MORE MAINE BOOKS! There is a Tide (Elspeth Bragdon)1964. Motherless teen boy has a neglectful father who puts him into boarding schools and camps. When the boy gets into trouble again, his headmaster challenges his father to spend the summer with him, on a small Maine island, way Down East, where they can each learn a lot about each other and other people. The lovely Lilian Obligado illustrations add a lot, especially on the picture cover of this book: a boy sitting on a rock, while across a small inlet, are a sweet-looking girl and her setter dog -- with Maine pine trees and the rocky shore all around them. HB, XL, good cond, Picture Cover, some nice internal illustrations, too. $3.00 Another copy of There is a Tide, with a very pretty dust jacket. XL, but both book and DJ are in good condition. $4.00 That Jud! (Elspeth Bragdon) 1957. Jud is an orphan, and feels unloved and lonely even in the close-knit community of Spruce Point, Maine. He spends a lot of his time getting into trouble, and escaping to his "secret" island hidout. Things go badly wrong, unless he can redeem himself. It's a really nice book, a Maine book -- so don't worry too much about this appealing kid. HB, with DJ, over a library PC, very nice condition. $3.50 Three Children's books by E. B. White -- this is a large PB and includes his classic books (and when I call something Classic, I really mean it!!) IN very good condition! INclueds Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, and Charlotte's Web. 2 have the wonderful Garth Williams illustrations, Swan has interesting Edward Frascino illustrations. These are are the original art. Pictures of all 3 covers are pictured on the cover of the book. Very nice one-book set. $2.50 Secret of Saturday Cove (Barbee Oliver Carleton) 1961 illustrations by Charles Geer Dedicated to the boys and girls of Friendship, which is the town adjacent to the one where we live. About a girl and boy who try lobstering to help the family. Here's a copy in very good condition, HB with PC, $4.00 Another copy of Saturday Cove, in fair (reading) condition -- read a good Maine mystery for a good Maine bargain price! HB, XL, $1.50 Abbie Burgess, Lighthouse Heroine, Jones and Sargent. Abbie is celebrated in this area where there are still many lighthouses! paperback in good condition $2.50 BOOKS BY LOUISE DICKINSON RICH If there aren't very many, then I hope to have more books by this popular and very fine author on my next sale list. We Took to the Woods (Louise Dickinson Rich) 1942. This is one of the best books ever written. Quite a boast, isn't that! My husband Dave read it long before we met, and pretty much decided to move to Maine when he grew up. I read it about the same time, and both of us have read it maybe 5 times since then. My kids and my siblings love it! OK, it was written by a cousin of my parents, but that's really not why we love it so much! Louise was taking a summer vacation canoe trip into the wilderness of Northern Mane, when she met Ralph, who lived there all year around. They married and lived there together for many years, including after they had 2 children. It sounds romantic, doesn't it? Well, Louise didn't depict it that way, but somehow you feel that there's something absolutely wonderful about their life in the deepest of forests, where at some times of the year, they couldn't go anywhere for months (remember, this is way before snowmobiles!) Plenty of dry humor, interesting descriptions of the logging industry (which has changed forever since then, so you only CAN read about it now.) Each chapter answers a frequently asked question, like "What do you do with all your spare time?" (Oh yeah!) and "But how do you make a living?" And what she can do with these innocent questions! This book was very sturdy, so its almost always found in good cond. The cover is something special, by the way. You can always spot this book by the burlap-looking cloth covering, and the brown pine trees on the spine. The front cover has a tree design in brown, too, and the title looks sort of like a rustic sign. I think the publishers knew it would be a very special book with a long life (would they have believed that it would still be in print, though in a high-quality PB, more than 65 years later???) Here we have a HB in very nice condition, interior very clean. For some reason, the original owner pasted the DJ flap very neatly into the inside front cover. It covers some of the map that's in the front, but the same map is in the back, so you can see it all. $4.50 The Peninsula (Louise Dickinson Rich) 1958. After her husband died and her children grew older, Louise had moved away from the Maine wilds where she had lived while writing her famous We Took to the Woods, and other of our very beloved books. She lived in MA, in her home town, while the children were going to school. Then she discovered a new part of Maine -- Down East (way up north, along the shore, to you!) This book is something like We Took to the Woods, in that it tells very entertainingly about a whole area, the Gouldsboro Peninsula, the lobstering industry, the people, the food (lots about food!) history, flora and fauna, and more about lobsters! The endpapers are very nice maps showing the shore and islands from Bar Harbor and on Down East toward Canada. Nice Copy of The Peninsula with fairly nice DJ, and some newspaper clippings that someone left in it, a variety of recipes for chowder -- I decided to leave them in there! HB, DJ, $3.50 Star Island Boy (Louise Dickinson Rich) 1968. Boy is sent to live in a foster home on Star Island, a lobstering village off the coast of Maine. He has trouble learning to trust his family there, but eventually does start to like them and the way of life. Then something happens to set him back terribly. The rest of the story tells how the islanders try to win him back. HB, XL, fair condition, with a very good DJ. $4.00 Three of a Kind (Louise Dickinson Rich) 1970. Girl moves to Star Island, where she lives in a happy foster home. Then the family's little grandson comes to live with them, and there's something strange and sad about the child. Despite being jealous of the attention paid to the little boy, she starts to care about him, and finds ways to get through to him. Having someone need her, and being needed herself, go far in helping this formerly rejectd girl. Super depiction of life on a Maine island! HB, PC, XL, in excellent condition. $3.50 --------------------------------- The White Mountains of New Hampshire (Alan Nyiri) A Beautiful PB, brand new, with information, but mostly unbelievably stunning color pictures of the White Mt region. Some taken from the top of Mt Washington, some from the forests, lakes, waterfalls, and woods of this area of great natural beauty. Snow. Fall Color without equal anywhere! $2.00 MORE MAINE BOOKS! Moving To Maine: The Essential Guide to Get You There (Victoria Doudera) 2000 She moved to Maine about 15 years before writing this book, and decided to answer all the questions she kept hearing from other people who wanted to do the same. A practical but very entertaining book, with profiles of people who live here, charts, statistics to help you decide if you really do want to "Take to the Woods," ideas for making a living after you get here, sports, quotes from famous residents like Stephen King, politics, religion, entertainment. You'll love reading it even if you have no notion of moving to The Pine Tree State. Large (brand new?) PB originally $15, my price $4 Books by Elizabeth Coatsworth --- One of my all-time favorite authors since I was a little girl! Most of these book could be listed as Alice's Picks. She lived only a few miles from where we now live, but I never met her. I have heard her daughter speak about her mother's works, at several seminars or meetings. She concentrates on her mother's poetry, as the daughter is a poet herself, but I'm convinced that her stories are even better! First, a 5-book set of Coatsworth books for young readers. These are among her later books, and some of them reflect her interest in slightly supernatural possibilities, as well as her multi-cultural outreach. However, this is a mixed group, all of them written to be read by perhaps 3rd through 6th grade readers, but of course (since this IS Elizabeth Coatsworth) enjoyable for all ages. The set includes: Grandmother Cat and the Hermit (beautiful nature pictures) PC All-of-a-Sudden Susan (includes a 200-year-old doll and a flood)XL with DJ Daisy (Family visiting Mexico at Christmas time) XL HB with DJ Pure Magic (Young boy finds out that his friend has unusual traits!)HB Jock's Island (sheepdog, his charges, and human friends) PB in good condition. 5 books by Elizabeth Coatsworth -- $10.00 for all A Toast to the King (Coatsworth) 1940. Starts in the Revolutionary era, when 3 sisters withdrew from most social life because they were Tories. Continues for decades until their ideas gradually changed. This is a totally readable and occasionally humorous book, with a wonderful surprise ending (don't read the front blurb if you want to be surprised!) Very nice illustrations. Pretty good condition, interior is very good. XL, HB, $3.00 Maine Ways (Coatsworth) 1947. One of several HB collections of her essays about living on their Maine farm, wihch was quite near here! There's an inscription from someone named Alice, but it wasn't this Alice. Of course I have my own copy of this book, or you wouldn't see it here! Titles include the interesting first chapter, Random Day (could be any winter day, full of small household chores and family routines) and the 2nd chapter, Landholders, which tells about how they acquired the farm, Decoration Day, Haying Time, End of War, Conversation from a Stepladder, etc etc. There are dozens of beautiful short essays, plus some nice illustrations. The book has a musty odor, so if you are prone to allergies, be warned. $2.00 Twelve Months Make a Year (Coatsworth) 1945. When I was a little girl, I loved the first book in this series (The Littlest House) more than any other book. When I discovered that there were 2 other books about the same family, I could hardly believe my good luck! This book about Jean, Lydia and Mark, has one chapter for each month of the year. Father finally comes home, after a long absence (something to do with the war?) and each month, he leads the kids and Cousin Mary in some kind of adventure. Being Coatsworth, most of them have something to do with nature, the sea, or animals. Lovely, every one. HB, XL, with a picture cover, and if you prefer, I'm including a laser copy of the original DJ. The DJ was sort of in shreds, but the cover picture is so pretty that I like to let people see it. Marguerite Davis illustrations. $6.00 The Enchanted: An Incredible Tale (Coatsworth) 1951. She wrote several of these "Incredible tales" that combine myth, local legend, and imagination, in a story that uses mundane details to make you believe the supernatural elements. Maine setting, of course. HB, XL, PC, good condition. $3.00 Personal Geography (Coatsworth) "Almost an Autobiography" In her 83rd year, Coatsworth put together this compilation of many selections from her private journals, public writings, poetry, and reflections. The date on the title page is 1968, but there are entries that date from later than that, so this must be a 2nd edition. Nice HB book in good DJ with a picture that covers both back and front of the book. Imposing woman stands in a meadow, overlooking Chimney Pond. $5.00 Alice-all-by-Herself (Elizabeth Coatsworth) 1937. This is one of her wonderful, "contemporary" (to that year) stories for girls, which I treasure more than her historical or biographical stories for young people, though they are good, too (especially "Here I stay" which is about my favorite Coatsworth, but that's another story, literally.) This tells about Alice, who lives in Damariscotta, Maine, a few miles south of where this Alice lives. She has all kinds of small adventures, which are charming to read about, and give you a good picture of what Maine was like just before WWII, when things started to homogenize all over the country. Illustrations by another powerful name in young people's books of the 20th century, Marguerite de Angeli. Tall book, 180 pages, including quite a few of Coatsworth's poems, which are as famous as her stories. Very nice laser copy of the original dust jacket, (which has a blank back cover but very attractive front cover.) This is a personal copy, not a former library book. HB, LDJ, good condition, $7.00 Sword of the Wilderness (Coatsworth) 1936. Takes place in 1689.Captured by Indians! Trekked through the wilderness, starving, freezing, eventually learning to live together. Much more than just an adventure story, of course, as Coatsworth was a fine author and observer of humanity. HB, PC, good condition, $3.00 Jock's Island (Coatsworth) Sheep dog trying to keep guarding his sheep when the island's inhabitants are evacuated before a volcano eruption. PB, nicely illustrated. $1 Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod (Henry Beston) 1928 I don't usually sell things that could be called Classics, but this one is too good to miss! If you've ever vacationed on The Cape, you probably didn't see anything like what Mr. Beston describes, but when you read this, and you'll know why people are trying to save the Real Cape. A year of almost total seclusion (try finding THAT in the touristy areas of Cape Cod today!) and observation of nature. You probably know that Beston was later married to Elizabeth Coatsworth. PB, $1.50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MAINE BOOKS BY ELIZABETH LADD, one of the best authors of authentic Maine YA books from all of the 20th century. She lived just about all her life on a rather remote island, enjoying animals and children, all of which contribute to her wonderful books! Most of them were illustrated by Mary Stevens, another favorite of ours, and another Maine native. Some of Ladd's books form series, but any can be read separately with great pleasure. I'll certainly try to find more book by Ladd very soon. Meg of Heron's Neck (Eliz Ladd) 1961. First book in the wonderful Meg series, this tells about her living with her older brother on his boat, then being taken away by their aunt and uncle so she can have a more regulated life. It's a wonderful story of a feisty little girl who was used to living a free and easy life around the docks, with her beloved brother, now living on a farm, in a house, and having to keep herself clean and presentable. Her pets, a black cat and a crow, are as bothersome as she is herself, and as appealing! Add perfect illustrations by Mary Stevens, and you have a lovely book. This big paperback is a former library edition, in pretty good condition. $3.00 A Mystery for Meg (Ladd) 1962. I don't know whether it's the Mary Stevens illustrations that make these books so special, or the stories of Meg -- sweet stories though Meg would snort at the idea of calling HER a sweet girl! She and her brother are staying on an island for a little while, caretaking for the owner of a house on the island. But mysterious things are happening there, of course, and Meg wants to figure out what they're all about. Despite living on a remote island, she runs into a few horrible characters, as well as making some good friends who help her when things get quite unpleasant! The book is in fair or even poor condition, but it does have a dust jacket, and is perfectly readable (I just read most of it while I was writing this blurb!) The cover picture is my favorite of the Meg books, she and her black cat lying in the tall grass, spying on a cabin across the cove. $3.00 A Mystery for Meg (Ladd) PB Down East Quality Reprint -- very good condition and with the original Mary Stevens illustrations and cover art. $3.00 Meg's Mysterious Island (Ladd) 1963. Another mysterious island! Meg and her brother want to get away from townspeople's threats to send her to an orphanage, so they set up housekeeping on a deserted island. But it's not all that deserted, is it! Danger as well as some cozy scenes depicted by Mary Stevens' illustrations that are so wonderful that you wish you, too, could live on a deserted island in an old beat-up house heated by a wood stove. Wonderful ending!!! PB, former library copy, with plastic coating that has protected the cover nicely. $3.00 The Indians on the Bonnet (Ladd) 1971. The Bonnet is a point of land on the Maine seacoast. As with most of Ladd's books, the characters are true Mainers, working and living under the harsh but beautiful conditions of the Maine coast, a life that summer visitors don't see. In this book, the plot goes beyond "bad guys" and fun, to touch on the subject of prejudice against Native Americans. I love reading anything by Ladd, always the nicest of girls as her heroines, as well as a setting that can't miss. But this one, while worth reading for sure, also makes you think, and isn't quite as cozy as her other books. HB, XL, in very good condition inside and out, $4.00 ----------------- A Fisherman's Daughter (Elizabeth McKey Hulbert) "A Charming fictional story of young Jan Stanley's growing up, influenced by the real-life character of Andrew M. Longley, Jr, DO. I think this is a sort of advertisement for Osteopathic medicine, but it's also a cute Maine story with some good sketches of various Maine fish, lobstering gear, etc. PB, in very good condition, $1.00 Seven Steeples (Margaret K. Henrichsen) 1953. Her husband had died, and she was quite lonely -- at the same time as she was lamenting that so many white-steepled New England churches were closed up for lack of anyone to take over as pastor. She went back to school to study for the ministry, and ended up with seven churches, all at the same time! This autobiography tells her story, but more than that, it's about living and working in a large area of Down East Maine, before TV and the internet homogenized this country. She tells about fishing villages, independent cusses, shacks of poverty, summer camps, woodsmen, scholars and bums, all the people she meets and loves as she travels around a huge, sparsely populated area of Maine, to minister to all her churches. I never met her, but good friends of mine knew her very well, and had high praises for her as a very interesting person to know, and a good preacher as well! Very good copy of this popular book, with a dust jacket in very good condition. $3.50 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MAINE BOOKS BY MARY C. JANE. She wrote some of the best and most popular mysteries for young people in the '50s and '60s! Each one has a different setting. almost all of them somewhere in Maine. They're nothing fancy, but they show children enjoying their lives amid some pretty mysterious happenings! All of them feature girls and boys equally, which is quite unusual and very pleasing. Maine kids love them, I love them, and so will you. You really need to have all of them! All have pleasant Raymond Abel illustrations. I'll have more Mary C. Jane books on my next sale list! END OF BOOKS BY MARY C JANE ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BOOKS BY ELISABETH OGILVIE -- for both adults and young adults My Maine "neighbor", Elisabeth Ogilvie, wrote some wonderful YA books in the 1950s and 1969s, I should include most of these in the Maltshop section of this list, but they are such true depictionf of Maine life in the area where we live, near the coast and on the islands. Oglivie, who recently died, lived near here, and was a very nice lady as well as a very talented writer for both adults and teens. I treasure my books by Ogilvie, and love to find duplicates so I can let other people read them! I wish there were more available -- and I will list them when I get any! Fabulous Year (Ogilvie) 1958. Sequel to Blueberry Summer. This PB copy is in really rough shape, but you can read the story, anyway. $1.00 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ End of Maine Books ALICE'S PICKS -- A SPECIAL CATEGORY OF BOOKS I LOVE! I'VE LOVED SOME OF THEM ALMOST ALL MY LIFE! SOME ARE NEW DISCOVERIES THAT I WANT TO SHARE Louisa May Alcott lot -- 3 paperback books in a slipcase. These are her most popular books, all about the "little women." They include: Little Women Little Men Jo's Boys These PBs are large and very beautiful (and in nearly new condition) with decorative covers to match the decorations on the slipcase. The slipcase itself is in nearly as good condition as the books, but has just a bit of wear at the corners. The set would be a wonderful gift for a girl who is just the right age for her first reading of Little Women, or for you, if you love these books, as I'm sure you do! The whole thing seems to have been priced at $24.85 at the store -- a few years ago. I'll part with the set for $8.00 A Newbery Christmas: 14 Stories of Christmas by Newbery Award-winning Authors. 1991. This is NOT filled with Newbery-winning stories, but stories by people who did write books that won the highest award for children's lit. Includes Eleanor Estes, Lois Lenski, Madeleine L'Engle, and many more. Large and beautiful book, in excellent condition, with a beautiful cover picture, but I can't find any reference to it, so don't know who painted it. There's an introduction, and a nice "about the authors" section. HB, with PC, excellent condition. Large and heavy book, so the postage might be slightly higher than most of our postal charges. $3.50 The Silver Pencil (Alice Dalgliesh) 1944. As I've mentioned before, this was my favorite book for quite a few years, when I was in my early and middle teens. Though I didn't know it at the time, it's autobiographical fiction, as it parallels the author's life. Starts in colonial Trinidad, continues in England, and ends up with the girl going to college in America, becoming a teacher and author. She buys a vacation house in Canada, and finds a touch of romance, which is continued in the sequel, Along Janet's Road, which I'd like to find for everyone, but it was never reprinted in pb, as this one was. The present copy is a small hardcover, which is a strongly bound copy of a paperback, with the PB cover picture but the original internal decorations. There is a Newbery Honor seal on the front cover. $3.00 Mr. Twigg's Mistake (written and illustrated by Robert Lawson) 1947. This is one of those books that i remember from childhood. It made a big impression on me! Now that I look back on it, the dry humor is what strikes me, but when I was a little girl, the story just fascinated me! To quote the apologia at the beginning of the story, "The breakfast food herein mentioned is entirely fictious. Any resemblance of "Bities" to any actual cereal, living or dead, is just unfortunate." Mr Twigg thought of himself as a scientist, for after all, wasn't he the only one at the factory who had been through high school, and wore a white coat (even if it wasn't exactly spotless!) One day he put far too much vitamin X into that day's batch of Bities cereal, so when Arthur started to feed it to his new pet mole, De Gaulle, the mole started to grow mammoth! Hilarious developments, wonderful pictures, and -- what will happen when that batch of Bities runs out?? I am making more of this story than it probably deserves, but if you want a good laugh, here's your book! Large, good cond PB, $2.25 Here are a couple of Tom Swift, Junior books that are harder to find than most of this series. Both in very good condition, with picture covers of rather amazing machines and activities! First, here is Tom Swift #24, His 3-D Telejector. It's a personal copy in very good condition, with just a bit of wear in a few of the usual places like the corners and extremities of the spine. $4.50 Then, here's #29, Captive Planetoid. It was apparently formerly a library copy, but there are only a few indications of this -- the crossed-out library stamp on the top of the page block (very discreet), a crossed-out stamp and a "discard" stamp on one of the first pages, and the fact that the first inside page has been cut out very neatly. Colorless tape on a very small section at the bottom of the spine. In general, I would rate this book as in very, very good condition. $22.00 Hiss and Tell: True stories from the files of a Cat Shrink! (Pam Johnson) I just read this and would recommend it if you like cats and want an hour of fun. She really IS a Cat Shrink! Her cases are funny, revealing, helpful if you want to understand why your cats act the way they do. Large PB, like new $1.00 MORE OF ALICE'S PICKS! Runaway Alice (Frances Salomon Murphy) 1951. Alice is an orphan, and has lived with mean relatives who use her for an unpaid maid and babysitter. Then why does she run back there when she's placed in very nice foster homes? A wonderful social worker makes a bargain with her, and after that, things change. I can't tell you how many times I've read this one (and once out loud to Dave, who loved it, too.) Ice cream is my favorite comfort food, but this book is even better as a "comfort book." PB, $2.00 The Lonely Doll (story and pohtographs by Dare Wright) 1957. Everyone loves Edith, the Lonely Doll, who made friends with LIttle Bear. This is a hardcover copy, only in fair condition, but it was my own beloved copy for years until last week when I found a slight upgrade, so now you can enjoy this one as I have for so long. Such lovely photos of Edith in beautiful clothes, having fun with the bears, and finding a happy home at the end. Picture book size, so this will involve some interesting wrapping for me! Black tape on the corners, but fairly carefully applied, so the cover picture still looks good. $2.50 Books by Eleanor Frances Lattimore. She wrote and illustrated a great many books for young readers, all of them very darling! I've read quite a few of them, and all are quite lovely little stories about children who act a lot like real children, not oddities in strange situations. If you see any of them, grab it! I hope to have more Lattimore books in the future. The Middle Sister (Miriam E. Mason)1947. Mason's books are so good! I don't remember reading them as a child, although I was the right age. I just MAY have forgotten some of the books I read back then, hard to imagine! Anyway, this one is wonderful! Family moves from Ohio to Minnesota (when it was the frontier) and each child can take one special thing. Sarah Samantha chooses her young apple tree. The trials that poor tree had to go through! Will it survive to allow SS to make an apple dumpling for Uncle Romeo? I suspect this story is a metaphor for the troubles our forefathers went through during the Westward expansion, but don't let that stop you! Dave and I loved it. The Middle Sister -- PB copy in good condition, $2.00 MORE OF ALICE'S PICKS! Books written and/or illustrated by Kate Seredy. I'm listing these in this section because I've just finished writing about Seredy's life (the article appeared in the May, 2007 issue of Whispered Watchword.) If you are intered in reading bookswritten and illustrated by her, or other people's books that she illustrated, here are a few of them. If there aren't many here, I'll try to find more very soon. A Brand-New Uncle (written and illustrated by Seredy)1961. A loving grandfather, but he does get tired of being at the beck and call of all those children and grands, as well as all their pets. So he decides to take a trip, before it's too late. At the same time, a boy is running away from an intolerable situation. I just re-read the book, and I can hardly type, over the tears in my eyes. Seredy is like that, never sentimental, but she knows how to touch your emotions. If you've read A Tree for Peter or The Chestry Oak, you know what I mean. HB, XL, wonderful illustrations $3.50 The Good Master (written and illustrated by Kate Seredy) 1935. One of the best children's books of the 20th century! The Good Master is Kate's uncle, whose kindness helps impetuous Kate and her cousin to grow up, using humor and wonderful guidance. They have such a good time on the Hungarian farm and surrounding countryside! There's a sequel, The Singing Tree, which continues the story of the 2 cousins through some very frightening times just prior to WWII. Possibly the best part of these books is Seredy's artwork. No, it's not "illustrations," it's ART. Some is funny, some is cozy, some is astoundingly beautiful and dramatic. HB, XL, good condition with a beautiful and very good DJ. $3.50 LOIS LENSKI books -- we really like these books about children from all over the country, mostly living in poverty but usually joyful and adventurous. She wrote and also illustrated all of her books. It took me a very long time to collect the books in HB, but finally I've started to find some for my fellow collectors, so here are a few: Strawberry Girl (Lenski) 1945. Nice reproduction hardcover book with DJ, and a replica of the Newbery Award sticker on the cover. Former library copy, but in very good condition. This is a large and very nice book! HB, XL, DJ, $3.50 Strawberry Girl (this one won the Newbery Award) Lois Lenski, 1945. Fair cond PB, $1.50 Policeman Small (written and illus by Lenski) It's all here except for the title page and pages before the text starts. Probably torn out when book was taken out of the library. Song is there at the beginning, and all of the text. Funny, cute, instructive, for beginning readers or lovers of Lenski's art. HB, XL, PC, $2.50 Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison (Newbery Honor book) 1941. Written and illustrated by Lenski except for the cover on this reprint. good condition PB, $1.50 ++++++++++++++End of Lenski Books ++++++++++++++++++ Alice, Or The Mysteries (Edward Bulwar-Lytton) No date on this little gem, but it looks very elderly. You probably won't want to read this, but who knows, maybe you will love it! Very small print. I couldn't resist it, as there aren't too many books with Alice as a character. The cover is quite decorative, red with a silhouette of Alice, stylized flowers and designs. $1.00 ---------------------------------- Adult book -- not YA. Ghost Girl (Torey Hayden) 1991. Have you read any of Hayden's books? She's a special education teacher, who specializes in the most difficult children in the world, abused, mute, destructive, extremely sad. She writes about her children in a downright, but absolutely riviting manner. This is one of the most amazing of all, and I've read many of her books. PB, $1.50 Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo) 2000. A cute little book that we first picked up because of the trailer-camp picture on the cover, then loved it for the very nice story inside. Girl lives with her loving but inattentive father, and is adopted by a rather nondescript dog that follows her from the grocery store. Newbery Honor book, and this is one of the times that I fully agree with their committee! PB, rather square (an unusual size and shape,) Good condition $2.00 (2) Good Morning, Miss Dove (Frances Gray Patton) 1954. One of my very favorite books when I was a young teen or pre-teen, thinking that I wanted to be a teacher (that idea passed pretty soon.) It's a somewhat nostalgic look back at the teaching life of a strict but fair teacher, as she lies in the hospital bed, resting for almost the first time in her life. Many of her former students visit her and one is even her doctor. They all realize that she's helped make them the good adults that they've turned out to be, even though they were frightened of her and even thought they hated her when she was teaching them! A kind of female version of "Goodbye, Mr Chips," but is it going to be "good-bye?" You'll really enjoy finding out! This book was made into a movie back in the mid-50s. PB, $2.00 HB copy of Good Morning, Miss Dove, nice condition, with a good DJ. $3.00 MORE OF ALICE'S PICKS My First Prayers -- This large picture book is full of illustrations by Bessie Pease Gutmann, whose beautiful portraits of children will be very familiar to you. These illustrations are the reason I'm including a picture book in this list. The book is in like-new condition, and has a frame inside the front cover, where you can put a picture of your own little one. There are little prayers, poems, psalms, and hymn verses, each one illustrated by a large reproduction of one of Gutman's lovely pictures. The covers are padded, and there's a printed pattern of watered silk or tie-dyed fabric all over the covers. HB, PC, $3.00 Here's a cute little hardcover book (DJ, too!) about Bears -- The Teddy variety. The Little Book of Celebrity Bears -- featuring Paddington on the front. $1 Miracles on Maple Hill (Virginia Sorensen) Newbery medal winner, 1957. Family moves to a farm to help the father get well after his return from being a POW. They certainly need a miracle, and this is provided by the turn of the seasons on the farm, especially the maple sap rising in the spring, and the making of maple syrup. The book is especially good due to the illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush, who will be featured in the July issue of Whispered Watchword. You probably know them best from Gone-Away Lake. HB, XL, with nice DJ. $3.50 Miracles on Maple Hill (Virginia Sorensen) Newbery medal winner 1957. Fine condition paperback, $2.00 Blue Willow (Doris Gates) 1940. About the MOST satisfying books you can ever read. Absolutely sweet story about a very poor migrant farmer girl who wants a home. Newbery Honor book and one of the most deserving! Everyone I know who has read it, loves it very much. The ending will probably make you cry, but with joy. PB in good condition, with the clever original Paul Lantz art. $2.00 (2) PB in fair condition -- I get lots of requests for the book, so I'll offer this as a reading copy for $1.25 The Year of the Dream (Jane collier) 1962. Nice family wants a boat, so they all work together for a whole year to earn the money for it. Lots of interesting money-making schemes! PB, $1.50 Baby Island (Carol Ryrie Brink) 1937. A dream come true for a girl who loves babies! 2 sisters are shipwrecked on a desert island with 4 assorted babies. All the details of providing for their charges plus a bit of mystery -- of course! This is the perfect book for a long read in front of the fire on a freezing winter day. Treats a very serious subject with the lightest of touches, and such happiness! PB $1.50 Books by Lenora Mattingly Weber. These have recently been reissued in beautiful PB editions Image Cascade publishing, but die-hard fans like to own the "actual" HB book that we read as teens. Now it's a lot cheaper to do just that, since the reprints have come out and the market for the originals has dropped! If there are no Weber books available now, I hope to have more at another time. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Maida books are So Beautiful! By the way, the Maida series is just about my favorite series, along with Judy, Trixie, and Beany. Maida is entirely different from any of the other series, and entirely loveable to me! I'll be listing more Maida books in the future, but in the meantime, maybe you'll spot some, and I recommend that you read them for sure! MORE OF ALICE'S PICKS! Something different for me -- an audio book. This isn't for everyone, my friend Leslie says that it was too depressing and ugly for her, but Dave and I were fascinated by it, even though we would certainly admit that it was dark, unpleasant in some places, and certainly not encouraging for anyone who is thinking of becoming pregnant and giving birth! You can take your choice. It's a Newbery award winner, so the judges must have thought it was worthwhile. The Midwofe's Apprentice (Karen Cushman) There are 2 tapes, in a slipcase, and they were in good condition when we listened to them a month of so ago. Former library copy. $2.50 Books by Frieda Friedman. She wrote the most beautiful books for middle-grade girls! Since I was a girl myself, I've loved her books, and re-read them when I need something to counteract the complexities of adult life in the 21st century. Wonderful families in every-day situations, realistic stories, and believable happy endings. New York City settings. I'll be sure to list any Friedman books that come my way. I didn't know where to put this one, but it's pretty and in good condition, as well as being potentially interesting, so here it is! It's in German, I think. Der Trotzkopf -- Eine Geschichte fur junge madchen. Looks like a German Maltshop to me, as the cover picture shows a sort of cute girl, though it does look as if she's peeking through a crack in a door! Author seems to be Emmy v. Rhoden. Hardcover book in good condition. If you read German, give it a try! $2.00 The Nanny Diaries (McLaughlin and Kraus) 2002. I don't try to sell adult books very often, and to tell the truth, I don't read them very often. But I came across this one, took a look, and didn't surface until I finished it. It's fiction, but there is a note that it is based on truth and the experience of the authors. College student becomes a nanny to a very, very rich but disfunctional family. It's pretty appalling to read about what she encounters (though she just loves the little boy, probably much more than his mother does.) Not appropriate for a child, I imagine it would be rated for over 16 years of age. HB, DJ, good condition, $2.00 Books written and illustrated by Carolyn Haywood. I really enjoy her realistic but humorous stories about Eddie, Betsy, and the rest of the group. By the way, the first Haywood was published before I was born, so I grew up with these darling books. The children remind me of myself and my friends in grade school! These are mostly "chapter books" of 150-200 pages Back to School with Betsy (Haywood) PB reissue of a 1943 original. Has the chubby-cheeked NOT original cover illustration. Internal illustrations are the original Haywood ones. Taped spine. $1.25 =================================== Books by Catherine Woolley, one of my very favorite authors. She turned 100 years old last summer! One whole issue of Whispered Watchword was dedicated to her, with many very loving reviews of her books (some written by me.) You can read some Woolleys to honor her along with people on Cape Cod, who are all celebrating her birthday!!!) Note: Sadly, Catherine Woolley died a couple of years ago, just after her 100th birthday. All the Ginnie and all the Cathy series go on my best-loved lists! I'll try to have more Ginnie and Cathy books, as well as other Woolley books, pretty soon. Ginnie and the New Girl (Woolley) 1953. A new girl at school, seems to be stealing Ginnie's best friend, Geneva. I've always thought that the Iris Beatty Johnson illustrations are a big part of why I love the Woolley books, and this PB copy has all PB copy in fair condition, but all there -- $1.25 Ginnie and the mystery Doll (Woolley) 1960. it's an antique doll, which appears and disappears in this wonderful Cape Cod setting. PB, good cond, $2.00 Another PB copy of Mystery Doll in fair cond, $1.25 Ginnie's Baby-Sitting Service (Woolley) 1963. She doesn't know all the things that can happen when you set up a sort of playschool, day-care service for little children! But she learns, and you will love her experiences! PB, good cond, $2.00 (2) END OF "ALICE'S PICKS" SECTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SERIES BOOKS -- HARDCOVER UNLESS NOTED +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You might guess from my email address (which incorporates Trixie Belden's name, and my cat, who is Trixie -- I am very fond of the Trixie series! Here are a few to start you on a happy journey! Trixie Belden #2, Red Trailer Mystery -- after Trixie meets Honey, and they become friends with Jim, then Jim flees his unkind step-father. Trixie and Honey think they know where he has gone, so they set out, with Miss Trask, in a deluxe travel trailer belonging to Honey's family, to track down their friend and offer him a permanent home. This copy is afairly recent reprint, a very good hardcover book with a beautiful cover picture of Trixie and HOney in front of a silver trailer -- the red trailer comes in later on. Beautiful condition, with all the interior pictures by my all-time favorite illustrator, Mary Stevens. $2.50 Trixie and the Mysterious Code #7 in series. This is the small-Whitman format, HB, with picture cover that extends around the back. The Bob-White club has been going for a while, when the school demands that they disband, thinking they may be a troublemaking gang. They have to prove that they are just the opposite -- helping people and doing good things. They decide to have an antiques show and sale to raise money for UNICEF -- that'll show 'em! Of course antiques are always good for a mystery when they disappear: have they been stolen or lost? HB, PC, $3.00 Trixie and the Black Jacket Mystery (#8 in series) Very important book among the early -- and best -- Trixies, this book introduces Dan Mangan, who starts out as a sullen, dangerous, leather-jacketed gangster type, and ends up as the one many people think Trixie ought to end up marrying when they grow up. Nice copy of the small Whitman HB PC edition. $3.50 Trixie and The Happy Valley Mystery (#9 in the series)Bob-Whites visit the Belden uncle's farm in Iowa, and they don't have to wait very long before they encounter mystery and danger along with the sheep on the farm. Exciting adventures. PB, $2.00 Trixie and the Mystery of the Emeralds -- #14 in series. This is the "Whitman Deluxe" format, tall hardcover with a nice picture cover. This is the book that caused our whole family to say "Rabbit, rabbit" when we first wake up on the first day of any month. This is typical of the fun that the Belden family always has. Di's father takes the Bob-Whites to the Washington DC area, to help him restore an old mansion. Old Mansion -- old mysteries, right? HB, PC, fairly good condition, $3.50 Trixie and the Mystery on the Mississippi -- #15 in series. The Bob-Whites, again guests of a miilionaire (this time Honey's father) take a trip down the Mississippi on a towboat, and of course run into a very dangerous mystery aboard. This is a small hardcover, which is library-bound from one of the yellow PBs that we are all familiar with. It's very, very sturdy, and has the original pb cover stuck to the front cover. It looks really good, don't worry! HB, PC, $2.50 Trixie and the Mystery of the Missing Heiress (#16 in series.) Jim discovers that he has a distant cousin, which is wonderful news to him. The Beldens bring home an accident victim with amnesia, and take care of her. Things start to get mysterious, which is just what Trixie loves! HB, small Whitman format, good condition, $3.50 Trixie Belden #21 Mystery of the Castaway Children -- One of my favorite Trixies (though I say that about a lot of them!) This one revolves around a clever gimmick, which is discovered in the end. But meanwhile, it covers some serious territory, including eviction, possible child abuse, and kidnapping. The Bob-Whites take on all these problems, and once again, help people who really need help. Very nice PB copy! $4.00 Trixie Belden #26, Mystery of the Headless Horseman. Sounds spooky, doesn't it? Of course Trixie knows it isn't really headless, but how does someone manage this trick? And why??? We really like this book (well enough for me to have read it three times now!) PB, good condition, really exciting picture on the cover. $4.50 ********************************************************************************** JUDY BOLTON ! Start your Judy library at reasonable prices, or get started on an extra set of the very best of series for your niece or daughter! We have made laser copies of the DJs for many of these books, to make them look much nicer than the "undressed" copies. Most of us have a very hard time telling the difference between an original DJ and the copy, the LDJs look so beautiful. The later numbered Judy Bolton books are unfortunately much harder to find than the early ones, and are therefore much more expensive. I looked at Ebay and ABEbooks for guidelines, and tried to be more reasonable than either one. I love to get these wonderful books out to people who really want them! If you love Judy, take a look at My Sister Sarah's Charm Bracelets, near the beginning of this web page. One of the bracelets features Judy Bolton charms! I've recently realized that some of my customers/friends don't read Judy Bolton books. So I'm going to try to explain why so many people are in love with this series, which is really different from other series! What I came up with is this -- each book is, of course, a complete story that can be read and vastly enjoyed by itself, the entire series is also a very long, continuing story about a girl, her friends, her romance, and in a way, the history of a town. Judy grows in age and experience, and (in contrast to most of the other series of that era) never forgets what has happened to her in the past. You will get to know what happens to Judy, but also you can follow her friends and acquaintances, as well as her own family. The mysteries are really interesting, and the side stories are full of the kinds of things that most of us love to read about -- summer camp, parties, friendships, marriages, pets. Many people read all the Judy's in order every few years, as if we are reading one long, long continuing story. Here are quite a few Judy Bolton stories -- these are old books, some in fairly good condition, some kind of worn out, but all wrapped up in nice laser copies of the original dust jackets. The pictures are vintage Pelagie Doane art, and in some ways, as collectible as the books themselves. Remember, if you take a laser copy of anything, it will have pictures of the same flaws that appear in the original item, so these LDJs have pictures of holes or tape or creases, wherever the original had any of those things. These were all taken from my own personal copies of the DJs, so my beloved books have these same holes, tapes, or creases! In many cases, what you are paying for is actually just above the cost of making the copies of the dust jackets -- the book comes along for the same price! Dates from the early 30s through the mid-60s. The classic series book era! #2 The Haunted Attic -- After the big flood, Judy and Horace and their parents move to a house that will be the scene of several mysterious happenings over the years! In this book, we begin to see Judy's role as defender of people who are victims of prejudice, as well as victims of crime. Very dear story! Laser copy of the DJ, by Pelagie Doane, shows Judy and Horace in the messy attic, trying to figure out what's causing the menacing noises and sightings. HB, LDJ, $5.00 #3 The Invisible Chimes -- Judy and her brother Horace meet lifelong friend Honey, and they start to unravel the story of her background. Book in fair condition, outer covering of spine is missing. Looks good in especially attractive dust jacket (a laser copy of it.) $4.00 #4 Seven Strange Clues -- The high school burns down, and Judy wants to know what caused this disaster. A poster contest provides some clues. Laser repro DJ by Pelagie Doane shows Judy and several of her friends, gazing down a mysterious trap door. HB, LDJ, $5.00 Another copy of Seven STrange Clues in laser DJ, but the book itself isn't in very good condition. Covering of outer spine has been glued on. Looks good with LDJ. Pages of text are just fine! $4.00 Seven Strange Clues, red cover, fair condition, nice reading copy to give to someone if you want to introduce Judy to a friend, or a reasonable copy for you if you still aren't convinced to love our Judy! $3.00 #5 The Ghost Parade -- A wonderful camp story! After the HS burns down, the students have an extra-long vacation, so Judy and her friends take a trip to the Thousand Island Camp. Blackberry the cat goes along with them, and it's a good thing he did! What he did for them, is the basis for his future reputation as a very smart kitty. You'll love the picture on the laser copy of the original DJ which I put on this book. A bunch of really scary masks on a deep red background, stunning! Dark green cover on the book, fairly good condition, with a small light stain on the front cover and age-darkened pages. The LDJ really makes this book look good. HB, LDJ, $5.50 #6 -- The Yellow Phantom -- most of the action is in NY city. One friend gets a job, another meets her hero and gets engaged while Judy solves several mysteries! It has the newer DJ picture of the laser copy of the newer DJ picture. Red tweed book in fair condition, but looks good with the laser copy of the DJ! $5.00 #11 -- The Unfinished House (Margaret Sutton)1938.) Nice thick green book, with a laser copy of the original DJ, The Pelagie Doane cover is really fun, with its picture of Judy and Peter in the unexpected snowstorm, with Blackberry, his whiskers standing on end, looking at the mysterious red circles in the snow. This is a wonderful story, full of special effects, mysterious illnesses, and an architectural problem! HB, LDJ, $7.50 Now here are MORE Judy Boltons!!! #2 Haunted Attic -- thick green book in good condition, with original DJ, in fair cond. DJ is all there except part of the spine. The front and back covers are all there, and there's a plastic dj cover to protect everything. $4.00 #2 Haunted Attic, thick green book in very nice condition except for slightly brown (uniformly colored) pages. $3.00 #2 Haunted Attic, red tweed thin edition, with original DJ -- book in really nice condition, DJ has a big piece out of the lower right front cover, but Judy's picture is all there, and the rest of the cover is complete. $4.00 #4 Seven Strange Clues. Judy and her friends find more of the secrets that lurk in the house that the Boltons moved into after the flood. Old green-covered book, nice laser copy of the original dust jacket. Pages uniformly brown with age. Book plus LDJ, $10.00 #5 Ghost Parade, red tweed cover, corners of spine rubbed and bumped, interior very nice. $5.00 #7 Mystic Ball -- thick green covers, spine is sunned, pages are age-darkened, but the book is in overall pretty good condition. Judy and Peter try to expose a phony fortune-teller who has frightened their superstitious friends, especially Irene. Great story! $4.50 Mystic Ball -- red tweed cover, fairly good condition -- well, I'll call it a reading copy so you won't think I'm overstating anything! It's such a great story, it will help you fall in love with Judy and her friends if you aren't already. $3.00 ____________________________________________________________________________ OTHER SERIES BOOKS INCLUDING GIRLS' AND LITTLE CHILDREN'S SERIES!! First -- books by our wonderful Mildred Wirt! As you can see, I can't keep them long enough to let very many people see them. I'll keep trying! Penny Parker Mystery Series by Mildred Wirt -- A girl whose father is a newsman, and she wants to follow in his footsteps. Mystery follows in HER footsteps wherever she goes, as she revels in danger and adventure! I'd love to have more Penny Parkers for you in the future! Dot and Dash at Happy Hollow (by "Dorothy West," who is actually Mildred Wirt.)1938. Dorothy West is another of Wirt's pen names, for this series of books about a girl named Dot, and her dog Dash. I think there are 5 books in the series -- this one is #2. Happy Hollow turns out to be a ranch in New Mexico, where Dot and Dash spend a vacation with old friends of the family. Really cute story, fairly unusual book! This HB is in fair condition (binding is a little loose, and the pages are discolored due to age.) There is a cute "decoration" inside the front cover -- initials in a heart, and X loves Y sort of notes. I know those things reduce the value of a book, but I think they're fun, and give you a real feeling for the original young owner of a book. There's a laser copy of my original dust jacket, picture of Dot and Dash running through the countryside. $5.50 Penny Nichols series by "Joan Clark" are actually by Mildred Wirt, and many people consider these to be pretty much clones of the later Penny Parker series. Penny N. is also a lively girl with a slightly less lively sidekick girlfriend, and a widowed father who is in this case, a detective. She zoooooms around town in her little car, and helps her father with his cases. To me, every bit as good as the Penny Parker series! I'll try to have more Penny Nichols books very soon! Mildred Wirt is still a very popular author, and her books sell out quickly. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HERE IS A BIG, BIG LOT OF A VERY INTERESTING SERIES! HANNI UND NANNI by Blyton. If you read German, you'll love these books. If you want to learn that language, this could be the most interesting, and possibly easiest, way to get motivated! I don't know any German at all, and Dave's intensive year of college German is several generations away, so we can't really tell you the titles of these books, or what they're about, but the pictures give me the idea that they must be quite similar to Trixie books, and probably aimed at the same general age of girls. There's a notation of "9-12" at the top of each spine, which would bear out this supposition. These are translations of books by Enid Blyton, the ultra-prolific English author. Maybe someone out there can tell me what the girls' original names were, and when the books were written (I think the dates inside these books are for when they were translated.) Anyway, there are 15 beautiful hardcover books in this big lot, which I think comprises the complete series. All the books are in almost perfect condition, and all have very cute cover pictures. I notice tennis gear, a picnic, a country-Western singer, bikes, a spooky house, and a lot of sprightly young teen girls on the covers of various of the books. LARGE LOT OF HANNI UND NANNI BOOKS -- $35.00 Recent Whispered Watchword reviews rate the Marjorie Dean series highly! Loyal friends, high morals (except for the girls who have low morals!) parties, schooldays, clothes, and a tad of romance. Life of upper-middle class girls in the 2nd decade of the 20th century. I'll try to include more Marjorie Dean books in the next list! DANA GIRLS MYSTERIES!!! By Carolyn Keene, so if you love Nancy, you'll love Louise and Jean. The entire series has been re-written, edited, and dressed in a new look, several times over the decades. I'll try to indicate what edition these are. By the Light of the Study Lamp, Dana Girls #1. This has the original text, but a revised picture cover -- the girls in '40s hairdos and clothes, watching a shadowy thief breaking into their dormatory. Cover in fairly good condition, text in very good condition. $4.00 Nan Sherwood is a nice old series (there are 7 in all) about a girl who starts out facing poverty but like most of these old series, eventually can go to boarding school and chase around the world. I'd like to have more Nan Sherwood books for you in the future! Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall: Or, The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse (1916) Nan starts boarding school in this 2nd book in the series. Book is in fair condition, it's complete and relatively well bound, but the pages are brown, and there's separation at the front and back of the binding. So far, it's holding together nicely. $2.00 Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall -- with a laser copy of the original dust jacket. The "real" dust jacket is in very good condition for one of these oldies, just a few bits taken out of the corners and extremities, so the laser copy looks just as good as that one. Front cover picture is a pretty picture of the girl, all wistful with a water-colory background. Book is in good condition, too. $4.25 MORE SERIES BOOKS! Ballet Stories (I've included this one here, because it seems to fit in with the Streatfeild books, though it isn't one) Good-sized PB book includes 15 semi-short stories about ballet subjects by many different authors, )including Streatfeild.) Some are pretty serious, some are pretty funny! Fairly good condition PB, $1.50 Grace Harlowe series -- one of the longest of the old, old series. Takes Grace through high school, college, helping out during the Great War, and into the world. It's unusual to find any of these books in good condition, as they were not made to last through the ages. However, they hold together, and are complete and readable. Starting around the year of 1911. I hope to have more Grace Harlowe books soon. Polly Brewster Series -- 1920's and '30s. Polly lived at Pebbly Pit in the Southwest, where her family owned a mine. Soon though, she branched out, and lived the life that seemed to be so dear to the hearts of rich series book girls in those days -- traveling, dabbling in business, giving and attending grand parties, going everywhere with a group of loyal friends. She still loved The Southwest (Colorado in this case) and returned there from time to time. I'll try to have more "Polly" books very soon. Polly Brewster series #2 -- Polly and Eleanor. Pages are brown with age, and cover has a few stains, but it's firm and tight, a good reading copy. HB, $2 Nancy Brandon's Mystery (Lilian Garis) 1925 This is the 2nd in a really nice 2-book series by Garis. In the first one, Nancy, a young teen, runs a business of her own and also learns to do household chores. In the 2nd, she stays with relatives whle her mother is on a long trip. Her cousin is selfish and devious, as well as just plain mysterious. Nancy has her work cut out for herself, trying to reform her cousin, as well as figuring out what's bothering her so much! HB, fair cond, with taped binding, though the red cover is clean and bright. $3.00 Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter (Lilian Garis) 1926. First in one of Garis' 2-book series, this one includes a lot of fun and a mystery, all in a background of summer vacation. Frontispiece and a couple of internal illustrations, nice condition HB. $3.50 Merriweather Girls! Here's an unusual series, including 4 books, all about a group of girls who help people and have a whale of a good time while doing it. I'll try to have more Merriweather Girls in the future! The Merriweather Girls on Campers' Trail -- Lizette Eldholm -- 1932. Good condition book, with a dust jacket that is almost all there, but don't try to take the plastic dust jacket protector off -- I had to piece the DJ together to some extent. The front cover is all there, and a cute one it is, a circle with words around the edges, and the 4 girls' pictures inside the circle. HB book with DJ, $3.50 Polly French of Whitford High ((Francine Lewis) 1954. This is the first in a 3-book series, and while there seems to every indication of an intention for more books to come, they never materialized. In fact, there is a phantom 4th title listed in some of the books. Anyway, you can read the few books in this Trixie-wanna-be series and make up some sequels yourself. This volume mostly centers around the school, elections, friendships, dastardly goings-on, and even an unofficial club (Bob-Whites, anyone?) Whitman picture-cover book in fair condition, which is the best you'll probably ever see for this book. The cover picture is wonderful, wraps all around the back cover, and shows a group of kids in what passed for casual attire in the early '50s, all going to a circus, with a dancing horse on the front cover. $3.00 Polly French and the Surprising Stranger (Francine Lewis) 1956. A Peruvian exchange student comes to Whitford High. Nice cover picture of Polly greeting the new girl, who is getting off an airplane. Wow, you can tell this isn't a new book -- Polly is right out there on the tarmac, and everyone's dressed in suits, hats, and dressy coats with fur collars (the picture goes around to the back, too.) Fair condition, mainly because of the binding, which is typical of these wonderful but weak Whitman "Cellophane" editions. The interior pages are in almost perfect condition -- how strange! $2.00 Five Little Peppers Series by Margaret Sidney. This is a very early series book, that seems to have been in print ever since the first one came out at the end of the 19th century! About 5 kids in one family who have tons of small adventures. Despite their age, these books are easy enough to read, and one of the good things about it is that there are a lot of these books, so you can follow them through the years. Of course there are attitudes that seem dated to us, but you find things like that in the early Nancy Drews and Bobbsey Twins books. Five Little Peppers and How they Grew -- First in the series. This copy is from an edition published by Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Co. Green covers with black line drawing on the cover, and gold lettering for the title. There's plenty of reading here, over 400 pages of it! Several full-color full-page illustrations. Very sturdy and attractive edition. $4.00 The "Melody Lane" series by Lillian Garis is quite unusual. I guess it's one of those series that you either love or hate. I happen to like it VERY much! It's atmospheric and creepy in some ways, but very down-to-earth and realistic on others. Like Judy Bolton, the girls of Melody Lane lived during the Depression. Carol, the main character has to work at least part time, but has many chances to solve mysteries and expose the same type of evil-doers that Judy does -- scam artists, fortune-tellers, fake ghosts, and people who prey on innocent children. I highly recommend the books, but be aware that some people find them less snappy and concise than the Nancy Drews. 1933 and 1934. I'll try to have more Melody Lane books in the near future! In the meantime, good luck finding some yourself -- I think you will really enjoy them! While you're looking, try some of Garis' other books, which are similar but present other characters. MORE SERIES BOOKS! Watch for a Tall White Sail (Margaret E. Bell) 1948. This is the first in a 5-book series about the fictional Monroe family, who settled in Alaska in 1887. There's romance, but also plenty of challenges and hardship -- and fun and new experiences! The books are mostly about the teen-aged girl in the family. PB, $2.00 Betsy-Tacy Books by Maud Hart Lovelace, just about the best of all series books in the whole world! Shame on you if you haven't discovered them, but I can't say much, since I didn't read them until I was an adult. My daughters loved these books when they were young, and Carrie even read them to our oldest grandson when he was little (I like to think that it's one reason he's grown up to be such a nice young man!) About 15 years ago, Dave and I were going to our first PF reunion, in Mankato MN where these books are actually set (its called Deep Valley.) I started to read them out loud to him, After this, I'll always take my daughter's recommendations about books! There's one thing you need to know before you start -- the first book is just right for early readers, and each book gets just a little bit more advanced, until the last book, which is about Betsy's first year of marriage. All the books are indescribably good, but it's best to read them in order, as I fortunately did. They have all been reissued in the past few years, so you can do just that. And remember, they are incredibly good! (If I don't have any Betsy-Tacy books for sale, watch for some in the future!) Betsy-Tacy (Lovelace) 1940. This is a nice pb (Harper Trophy) with the original Lenski art on the cover as well as interior. Sweet little story for sweet little girls, about sweet little girls. Very good condition. $2.00 (2) Another copy of Betsy-Tacy in fair but perfectly readable condition, $1.00 Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (Lovelace) 1942. Lenski illustrations except for the cover, which has the "grotesque" newer ilustration. Harper Trophy PB. $1.50 Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill with the Lenski cover $2.00 Betsy in Spite of Herself (Lovelace)1946. Betsy's sophomore year in high school! This is the year when she travels to Milwaukee to visit Tib, and lots of other adventures, even starting to date boys. Diane Goode cover, but the original Vera Neville interior pictures. good condition PB, $2.50 The Valentine Box (Maud Hart Lovelace) 1966. This is one of MHL's very few books for little girls. A new girl in the class is afraid she won't get any valentines because she hasn't made any friends yet. This is a nice addition to your collection of Maud Hart Lovelace books, and one you can read to your little girl before she's even old enough for Betsy-Tacy. HB, XL, PC, worn. $3.00 CHERRY AMES -- the most popular nurse series ever printed, a nurse with 1,000 specialties, all of them interesting and romantic -- and connected with fascinating myseries! I'll try to have more books in this series very soon! Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse, #2 in series. tweed cover, fair condition, with some wear to the corners and extremities of the spines. $2.00 Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, #4 in the series. tweed cover, very good condition with very tight binding. HB, clean and sturdy, $3.50 Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse -- #5 in the series. 1945. Cherry flies with wounded soldiers, from the battlefield to England, where they can be treated. There's a beautiful sub-story about a little girl, caught up in the war. Bright red book, firm and clean, fair condition. This book has a very good dust jacket, showing Cherry in uniform, gazing intensely off into the sky, with a background picture of a soldier, being lifted off a plane. $5.00 Here is a 3-book set, which I'm calling "Cherry Ames, War Years." In the first, Cherry and all her fellow nursing school grads join the Army to help the war effort. IN the 2nd, Cherry is promoted and works in the Pacific. In the 3rd book, Cherry is in England some of the time. The rest of the time, she's nursing injured soldiers who are being flown from the front lines to England for treatments. The Books include: Army Nurse -- fairly worn red tweed book with a beautiful laser copy of the original dust jacket, picture of the nursing grads filing out of the school, on their way to the army. Chief Nurse -- red tweed cover, with a beautiful laser copy of the original DJ. The picture isn't specific to this story, being a picture of Cherry and 3 other nurses in white uniforms and big smiles Flight Nurse -- solid red cover on the book, wonderful original DJ with picture of Cherry in uniform, gazing at the sky, with a background of the door of a plane, soldiers unloading injured soldier on a litter. Book and Dj are in good condition, though the book was cheaply made under wartime paper restrictions, so there is a bit of chipping to the DJ, and the book pages are brown. 3-book set of Cherry Ames with either a DJ or a laser copy of one. Very, very nice for a nostalgic gift, or to start your beautiful Cherry Ames collection. $12.00 for all Cherry Ames #9 -- Cruise Nurse. After all her war work, and helping out veterans after the war, Cherry needs some R and R. She thinks she's going to get it as a nurse for a cruise ship, but you know how it is with series-book heroines -- she can't help finding a mystery, even out there on the high seas. However, the DJ shows a radiant Cherry in white uniform, with a background of luxurious decks, swimming pool, striped umbrellas, and vacationers. Book is in fair condition, to be generous. There is a laser copy of the original DJ, which is in wonderful condition, so the set as a whole looks very good. $4.00 Cherry Ames #12, Mountaineer Nurse. Cherry goes off to Heartbreak Hollow, Kentucky, to work with the mountain people in their homes and in a clinic. Picture Cover edition, in fair condition -- binding is OK, the pages are all there and tight, and the front cover looks good, but the spine has a sort of crack or fold down the center. HB, PC, #4.00 Cherry Ames #26, Mystery in the Doctor's Office. This is the next-to-last Cherry Ames book, and has been quite hard to find. Cherry is back in New York, living in the apartment she shares with her other "Spencer Club" friends -- after all her travels around the world! She's working as an office nurse for a doctor, and someone is embezzling money from her employer. There are theatrical actors among her patients, and a nice country vacation! This copy has a picture cover. It's in good condition, not perfect, but no particular flaws besides the usual scuffed corners to the cover, and little bit of wear at the extremities of the spine. There's a tiny dark smudge about a quarter of the way up from the bottom of the spine. $30.00 BOOKS BY HARRIET PYNE GROVE -- unlikely name, was it a pen name? -- but very good stories. S. P. Mystery, no DJ, but with a bright yellow cover, pretty good condition with the the usual darkened pages and slight age-spots on the cover. These books can be as much as 75 years old! From front flap: "Rewarded for good work in school, the 7 girls of the S. P. Club are given a cottage on a little lake, where they are to spend the summer." There, they do more good work! This time, helping a poor orphan girl,who lives nearby. HB, 3.50 The Amy And Laura series by Marilyn Sachs is aimed at a younger reader than the Maltshop books, but they appeal to the same audience of adults. 2 sisters move to a new apartment in NY, and deal with a number of problems, including a mother who has to spend a long period in a hospital, being the new kid on the block, and a bad bully. But there are wonderful, nostalgic scenes of jumprope rhymes, school adventures, pets, lots of family scenes. Laura's Luck is a camp story -- always popular! If you like the same books that I do, I can almost guarantee that you will like these books very much. I'll try to have more Amy and Laura books soon! The Meadow-Brook girls series is an early outdoors-adventure series, based in New Hampshire (I think it's the only relatively major series that is mainly set in New England.) Enjoyable in the mold of the first few Ruth Fieldings or the Outdoors Girls. MORE SERIES BOOKS! Six Star Ranch (Eleanor Porter) 1913. This book doesn't really have anything to do with Pollyanna, but later in the series this book is linked with the Glad Books, so it might be fun to read it along with the others. By the way, did I mention that I really like the Pollyanna books? HB, good cond, $2.00 Pollyanna's Jewels (Harriet Lummis Smith) 1925. Book 5 (?) in the series. Her "jewels" are, of course, her children! You will find that the Pollyanna in these stories is a very interesting, and not at all silly, person. I've enjoyed reading this series, and never hear someone described as a pollyanna, without laughing at the misunderstanding. HB, fair condition, $2.00 Pollyanna's Golden Horseshoe (Elizabeth Borton) "The Tenth Glad Book" from 1939. Fair condition hardcover. $1.50 Every Boys Mystery and Adventure Stories, 1935. This isn't a girls' series book, but I have most of the boys' books on sale, so I had to list this one elsewhere. It contains 3 complete books, Brothers of the Senecas by Walter E. Butts, Detectives, Inc by William Heyliger, and Vanishing LIner by George Morse. It's a gigantic volume, as each of these books is about 250 pages long! There is a DJ, pretty nice looking but missing the back flap. DJ has a picture from each of the books that are included in the volume. Book itself in good condition, though I think the great weight has caused a little strain on the spine. But it's an interesting oddity, and very attractive. $4.00 Ruth Fielding series. Ruth starts out as a motherless girl, just like Patti Fairfield and a lot of other old series heroines! But she goes in a different direction, after the first few books full of rollicking adventures in boarding school, in the north woods, and at the shore. In later books of this very long series, she becomes a career girl, role model for feminists, and pre- courser of Nancy Drew and other series females. Yet, she keeps her femininity, and eventually even marries (take notice, Nancy!) I've enjoyed all the Ruths that I've read, from beginning to end. I'll add books about Ruth when I find them for you! Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill (Emerson) #1 in series. There's a touching inscription inside the front cover, saying that this book is a prize to one Beulah May Chandler, for her excellent record during the Fall term of 1919, from Frances Whidden, her teacher. Obviously this book is nearly a century old, but it's still worth reading, that is, if you had an excellent record last term! Book has nearly a complete DJ, though there are tears in it. There'd be tears in me if I were that old, too. $3.50 Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill (Emerson) #1 in series. As in most of the series, this one provides the basis for the rest of the books, and introduces most of the characters that you'll read about in future books. Fairly nice condition, though the pages are brown from age. $3.00 Ruth Fielding at lighthouse point -- #4 in series. 1913. This book has a loose binding, but is holding together. Frontipiece is loose, but not lost! Otherwise, Cover and spine look good. HB, $2.50 Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch (Alice Emerson) #5 in the series. Has a nice Merry Christmas inscription to Mother from her Son Frank, Dec 25, 1920. I guess we aren't the first generation of adults to read these teen series. Pages are age-browned, but binding is tight. Old style picture on cover (Ruth in front of a full moon or sun.) $3.00 Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm, or What Became of the Raby Orphans, #7 in series. Fair condition, $3.00 Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies, or The Missing Pearl Necklace. #8 in series. Pretty good condition, with the "red moon behind Ruth" cover picture. $3.50 Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures, #9 in the series. Subtitle: Helping the Dormatory Fund. In the typical condition of these old series (this one has an inscription dating it to Christmas of 1928.) Solid and firm, anyway. $3.00 (2) Ruth Fielding at College, or The Missing Examination Papers. 1917. #11 in series. Fairly good condition, quite firm, more modern picture on the PC. $3.50 Ruth Fielding in the Saddle, or College Girls in the Land of Gold (Emerson) #12 in the series, 1917. A rather ugly cover on the book, but interior is in good condition. Good for a reading copy. $2.00 Betty Gordon series -- Betty was a penniless orphan, staying with horrid guardians who also had young Bob working for them, and they treated him terribly. Betty and Bob eventually find a much happier home with her uncle, who owns oil wells and takes them all around the country where they help him out by solving mysteries. This series is similar to the Ruth Fielding books in appearance as well as age, and a little like it in plot. Betty Gordon #3, In the Land of Oil, subtitled The Farm that was worth a Fortune. Uncle Dick takes Betty and Bob to the oil fields, where they foil a dastardly plot to steal a poor man's oil fortune. Fair condition, about what you expect from an oldie-but-goodie! $2.50 Betty Gordon $4 -- Boarding School, subtitled The Treasure of Indian Chasm. 1921. Boarding School stories -- everyone loves them! Lucky Betty, who started out too poor even to go to public school very regularly. Fairly good cond. $3.50 Betty Gordon #8, at Rainbow Ranch, subtitled Cowboy Joe's Secret. fair condition, $2.50 Patty Fairfield series. Patty starts out as a motherless girl who stays with various relatives, and is a simple, sweet young thing. She soon becomes acquanited with life in the lap of luxury, and you can visit her there in the many books in this series. Descriptions of parties, costumes, mansions, travels, decorations -- I've never read of more opulant settings! Of course there are adventures and mysteries, friendships, and romances. Patty ends up married in the end of the series. Due to their original good quality, they are sometimes found in fairly good condition, considering their extreme age! Interesting series. I'll add more Patti books as soon as I can, in the meantime, try to find them yourself, I'm sure you'll enjoy reading these extravagant stories! Author -- Carolyn Wells Patty at Home (Wells) 1905. This is an especially interesting volume, as Patty's father meets and becomes engaged to a young woman that Patty is very fond of. You might think she would make waves, but she apparently thinks it's a wonderful plan. The spine of this copy is worn, but there's a pretty color cameo picture of Patty on the cover. $2.00 Also by Carolyn Wells (a very prolific author, if that's her real name) is the Marjorie Maynard series. This is aimed at younger readers than Patty Fairfield, and is about family with 4 kids who love to do things together. No twins -- this isn't about the Bobbseys, though the time is just about right for the beginning of that series. They're a lively bunch "The fundamental principle of Mr. and Mrs. Maynard's training was common-sense, and this, added to deep parental love, made their discipline both wise and kind." But they get into all kinds of scrapes, while having a great old time together. I believe these books are written for kids between the Bobbsey Twins' age, and the Patty Fairfield teens. They are 240 to 280 pages long. Frontispiece, but no internal illustrations. Marjorie in Command (Wells) #4 in the series. 1910 Mother isn't feeling quite up to par, so she and Father take a 6-week trip to the South, leaving the children with a lady with 'delicate nerves." Probably not a good choice! Marjorie ends up in charge most of the time, and things get out of hand before they get much better. Pretty good condition except for a little piece out of the very top of the exterior spine. $3.00 Marjorie's Maytime (Wells) 1911. May Party and a few other wonderful parties, trips, and of course exciting adventures. HB, firm condition, some wear (these are OLD books!) # 5 in the series. $3.00 MORE SERIES BOOKS! Dorothy Dale's Great Secret (Margaret Penrose)1909. There are 13 books in the Dorothy Dale series, this is #3. I don't come across them very often, but here's one for you to try! Her secret is one that won't shock you very much, but the book was written in another time -- exactly 100 years ago. The cover picture shows a girl in what may hav been a shocking costume itself, ankles showing above her sports shoes, short sleeves, and a tennis racquet in hand (and can that be short hair?) HB, PC, fairly good condition under the circumstances. Frontispiece and several internal illustrations, also quite a few pages with lists of other series, following the end of the text. By the way, it's interesting to note that this book is inscribed to a girl named Dorothy, and Girls' Series Companion lists 4 other Dorothy series (plus I know of a couple for younger girls, and there's always Dorothy in OZ!) That must have been THE name in its day. $3.00 Dorothy in California (Evelyn Raymond) 1909. Yet another Dorothy series, this one being the Dorothy Chester series, though that's not listed on the cover. This is #6 in an 11-book series, which has a very sweet cover picture. A girl in a frilled cap, in a circle surrounded by vines and flowers. Good condition, especially for its age. $3.00 Ginny Gordon Mysteries (by Julie Campbell, hooray, a Trixie author!) Ginny is another of the Schoolgirl Sleuths, and has a group like Trixie's Bob-whites, called The Hustlers. They are always looking for ways to make money, and run into plenty of mysteries while doing so. I'll add more Ginny Gordons as soon as I find them! Ginny Gordon and the Disappearing Candlesticks, 1948. They open a Swap Shop (I'd call it a thrift shop, I guess.) Valuable things disappear. HB, small picture on cover, fairly good cond, $3.00 Ginny Gordon and the Disappearing Candlesticks 00 with a lovely dust jacket, picturing Ginny and her friend Babs, in wonderfully 1948 casual outfits and hair-dos, with a typical bike of the times, looking down on a disreputable shack. Picture extends around to the back, where the town can be seen across a vast field, showing how very lonely a place the girls have ridden to. Book in good condition, with quite a few cute interior pictures. $4.00 Ginny Gordon and the Mystery at the Old Barn (1951) The latest project of the Hustlers is a Snack Barn where the town's teens can gather after school. Fun! But guess what? Things get mysterious quite soon. There's an absolutely wonderful cover picture, which goes all around the front and back. On the front, the kids (in cute checked aprons that match the tablecloths and curtains) work in the kitchen. On the back big crowds of teens come in the door, or sit around tables eating hamburgs and hot dogs, while some other workers serve trays of cokes. Nice barn background. HB book in very good condition. $4.00 "The Mexican Mysteries" series is about 3 American girls (main character is Jo Anne) who spend their summers in Mexico, helping people and having rather wild adventures. A really great series, I only discovered it a few years ago, but loved it immediately. These are beautiful books, in the thick Saalfield formats, with rather brittle pages, but good sturdy bindings. I'll try to have more Mexican Mysteries (by Randolph) soon. Peggy Lane Theater Series By Virginia Hughes. These books are to a theater career what the Vicki Barrs are to stewardess career, or the Connie Blairs are to an advertising career. The books even look the same as those series, with similar attractive picture covers. The books all look good, they are almost always in very good condition, standing up well over the years. They're the story of a young girl who starts out in her career, and has many experiences as she advances in the theater world. There are even simple mysteries in most of the books All series book collectors ought to have them! They're especially fun to read if you're interested in the theater. But entertaining if you aren't a theater fan! I'll add Peggy Lane books when I have more of them. The Beverly Gray series is fabulous! It's a long series that was popular from the 30s through the 50s, and is still very much read, especially by subscribers to Susabella Passengers and Friends magazine. We will try to list more Beverly Gray books soon -- they've been very popular! Beverly Gray's Mystery (Blank) #18 "Clover" picture cover, spine is mended, but the book is sturdy enough. Nice picure on the cover -- a circus tent with a trainer and white horse under the big top. Bev and her friend are dressed to the eye teeth in hat, gloves and beads, in the foreground. $2.50 Beverly Gray's Island Mystery (Clair Blank) #23 in series according to Girls' Series companion, though it is termed #22 on the cover of this Clover edition. You can take your choice -- the number depends on whether you count World's Fair or not. HB with blue tweed cover, not beautiful, but a cheap way to read this very exciting mystery that's very near the end of a long, long series! $2.50 Kim Aldrich series -- for older teens, as Kim starts out as a secretary to an insurance company, then becomes an investigator, which of course is a great way to run into mysteries, even dangerous ones. The first book in the series, from 1972, is Miscalculated Risk (Kim Aldrich) by Jinny McDonnell. Cover shows Kim in a wet suit, with someone's hand reaching out to catch her! She's a beautiful girl, but will she survive? HB, PC, $3.00 Dorothy Dixon Series is about a very adventurous 16-year-old who gets her pilot's license and flies around solving mysteries and rescuing people, things like that! There are 4 books in the series (and a phantom title) all from 1933. They were cheap books to start with, and pretty much always have brown, slightly brittle, pages. I will try to have more Dorothy Dixon books very soon! Nurses Three is a short (7 books) but very good hardcover nurse series. There are 3 sisters, all nurses, all daughters of a famous doctor that they seem to want to live up to. The 3 girls have different personalities and interests, and each one has a couple of books all to herself. A unique idea for a series, and quite wonderful! The books have attractive picture covers, in a different color for each of the girls. If there aren't any Nurses Three books here, I will hope to have some to offer soon! Nurses Three -- First Assignment, a Penny Scott Story (Jean Kirby) 1963. In fairly good condition, though I've mended the inside of the binding. HB, PC, great story! $4.00 Nurses Three -- A Very Special Girl, A Tracy Scott Story (Kirby) 1963. In fairly good condition, though I have mended the inside binding. Very interesting setting on a Native American reservation, complete with romance, mystery, and some puzzling problems for this very special girl to figure out. HB, PC, $3.50 Linda Carlton's Ocean Flight (Edith Lavell) 1931.Linda Carlton was a girl flyer in the days when that was quite a daring occupation. In her case, I guess it WAS pretty daring, since she has more adventures than you can shake a stick at! HB, in fair condition, $2.50 Polly series by Lillian E. Roy. Mostly with light blue covers. The Polly series tells about a girl who started out on a ranch in the southwest, and really loves her life there. The first 2 books are set on the ranch. Many adventures, and a bit of romance. After that, Polly goes out into the big world, and is very successful in every way, but of course it never changes her sweet nature! In a later book that I don't have for sale, she goes back to the ranch for a while, and then sets off for fantastic trips and adventures. Romance intrudes, but as in all of these very old series, it's very mild and treated a bit humorously. Eventually, she marries. This is a fairly long series, and worth collecting and reading. I'll try to list more Polly books very soon! MORE SERIES BOOKS! Kathy Martin nurse series. Kathy Martin books are like slightly more modern Sue Barton or Cherry Ames. A long and very interesting nurse-mystery series.) They were written by Josephine James, starting in 1959. Kathy has a very interesting family, who live on an apple farm in California, she has a nice boyfriend (but just can't make up her mind to marry him!) and she is just as good as Cherry Ames at nursing and finding mysteries to solve. All the books have attractive picture covers, and are Golden Press HB editions to match several other popular series that you probably already have in your collection. I certainly hope to have more Kathy Martin books in the future. A Cap for Kathy (Josephine James) Kathy Martin #1, 1959. Kathy graduates from HS, and almost immediately mysterious things start happening. Her family is involved, so she has to help figure out what the trouble might be. Then things go from bad to worse. Kathy is more 3-dimensional than Cherry, and her family is not at all typical of the families of many series book heroines. Several of us read this book last year for a review in Whispered Watchword, and we were in agreement that it was a very exceptional story. Beautiful cover picture of Kathy in her cap, in front of an apple orchard. picture cover edition. (See description above) A really good series, you should try it! One of the good things about it is that there are 13 books in the series, so you won't run out of them in a hurry. HB, XL, PC, $2.75 Junior Nurse. Kathy Martin, #2 1960. Plenty of mystery during her 2nd year in nursing school, including an amnesia patient, and surgery, and CHRistmas!!! HB with PC, good condition. $3.50. Senior Nurse, Kathy Martin #3. In the end, she graduates from nuring school, but in the meantime, of course she encounters mystery, and has ups and downs in her love life. HB with PC, good condition -- $4.00 Senior Nurse, Kathy Martin #3, in a Golden Griffon pb edition. I think these GG pb editions of the Kathy stories are trying to make the books look like the plentiful nurse-romances that were so popular for adults in the 50s and 60s, but they are actually the very same books as the HB Kathy Martin's. Nice condition PB, $2.50 Assignment in Alaska, Kathy Martin #5. Even Cherry never got to Alaska as far as I can remember. This is an especially interesting book, even for this special series. Believe me, you won't think you're reading about River Heights. This one gives you a good "sense of place." HB,PC Good condition, $4.00 Courage in Crisis -- Kathy Martin #9. 1964. Working in a rehab hospital. HB, PC, fairly good condition, $3.50 Susan Sand series, from the early 1980s, is popular with Nancy Drew fans who love this feisty, brave teen girl detective and mystery writer. The titles are enough to catch anyone's attention! Too bad this is such a short series (8 books.) The first few are fairly easy to locate and reasonably priced. The next 4 or 5 are not too hard to find, while the last couple of them are quite rare. Good luck finishing your Susan Sand series! I'll try to include more Susan's on my list, very soon. Sue Barton Nurse stories! In my opinion, this is the best of all the nurse series. Yes, they are outdated as far as the nursing techniques and information, but the human interest is exceptional, and the writing is beautiful. If you read them in order, there's no other series that keeps your interest as compellingly as this one, unless it's Beany Malone. I'd like to promise that I'll have more Sue Barton books soon, but that's a hard promise to keep. I'll certainly try! Timber Trail Riders. Timber Trail is a horse farm, and there are both boys and girls in the riding club. I only started collecting this series recently, but I do enjoy them and want to share them with my friends. They were cheaply made and cheaply bound, so they're never in very good condition, but they have very attractive picture covers, and well-illustrated interiors. Whitman cellophane style I'll try to include some more Timber Trail Riders books as soon as I can. BOOKS BY L.M. MONTGOMERY -- The author of "Anne" was a very prolific writer! Here are a few! Pat of Silver Bush (Montgomery) 1933. Cover says "The Warm and wonderful story of a young girl and the home she would always love." Doesn't say much, does it? But if you know Montgomery's writing, you'll know it's special. Sweet cover picture on this paperback edition, which is in moderately good condition. $1.00 Anne of Avonlea (L.M. Montgomery) Very nice hardcover, from the Grosset and Dunlap Anne of Green Gables Series. Light green cover, oval picture of Anne (doesn't look like my vision of Anne, but she does have lovely red hair.) Very nice condition HB, $2.00 Anne of Windy Poplars (Montgomery) Grosset and Dunlap edition, orange cover with slight white stain. no DJ. Spine separation at front interior, but otherwise nice cond. $2.00 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Outdoor Girls is a very long series, 23 books in all, about an adventurous group of girls -- if you like the older series about girls who seemed to be paving the way for today's active women, you ought to start collecting these books! Oh yes -- they're really interesting and fun to read, too, historical impact notwithstanding. They can be read out of order with no problem. By the way, both this series and Moving picture Girls are for much older girls than "Laura Lee Hope's" Bobbsey twins. I'll add more Outdoor girls as soon as I can find them! To start you on your Outdoor Girls collection, here's 6-book BIG LOT of Outdoor Girls Books by "Laura Lee Hope." I want to make sure you understand that they're in only fair condition. There isn't anything really wrong with them, they just have an authentically vintage look to the covers. The bindings are pretty firm, and all but one has its original frontispiece. I LOVE the way these old series look, don't you??? By the way, the pages of text are amazingly clean and bright! Titles, all preceded by "The Outdoor Girls:" Of Deepdale At Bluff Point On Pine Island At The Hostess House In a Winter Camp In Florida Big lot of 6 Outdoor Girls books -- $20.00 If you want to try out just one of the Outdoor Girls books, here's Outdoor Girls in a winter Camp Fair condition, perfectly readable and firm, just a bit discolored with age. $3.50 The Moving Picture Girls books by Laura Lee Hope. The author's name is fictional, here and in the Bobbsey Twins series, but this series is very interesting. Moving Picture girls are way before their time, and very modern in their day. I'll add Moving Picture Girls books when I come across any. Good luck finding them yourself, in the meantime! Blythe Girls are supposed to be written by Laura Lee Hope, but if you're thinking "Bobbsey Twins," forget it! This long series appealed to teens of yesterday and appeals to PFs of today. The girls are in their late teens, no slapstick situations like those the Bobbseys were always involved in. Mystery, yes, but much more "mature" sleuthing. The girls are orphaned, and actually have to work hard for a living. Each has a totally different type of job, so there are lots of opportunities for interesting mysteries. I'll add more Blythe girls books as soon as I can! Mystery at Bluff Point Dunes (Lisa Eisenberg) 1988. This is one of the few "new" mystery series that I really like. There are only 3 in the series, which is too bad, because I'm not the only one who thinks these books are appealing to Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton fans. In this one, Kate goes to Cape Cod for a vacation with a friend, and becomes involved in a mystery involving the friend's grandmother and some jewelry. Attractive PB, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it, as I did. $2.00 Donna Parker series. All are Whitmans eds with picture covers. You'll probably never see any books from this series in perfect condition. They've deteriorated with age, and weren't too sturdy to start with. But they're colorful looking and very good stories! Donna Parker, A Spring to Remember -- with a different but also very nice cover, showing Donna and a nice-looking boy, in front of a fence. In this book, Donna is called on to help both this boy, and her girl friend Ricky, with weighty problems. HB, OK condition $2.00 Donna Parker Special Agent 1957 Donna wants to solve a mystery! Strangers come into Donna's life, and she determines to figure out what they might be up to. Newer but very nice picture cover, Donna in red coat, boarding a plane. HB, $2.00 If you like to read about the outdoors, camping, jolly fun and dangerous adventures, then the Campfire Girls stories will please you as they please me! There are several Campfire series, from various years and by various authors, and this can be confusing, but just dig in and enjoy them when you find them, don't worry about reading them in order or anything. Usually, they're episodic and unrelated to one another, and also, there's always plenty of explanation and descriptions of personalities, so you can catch right up on the previous books if necessary. I'll try to add more Campfire Girls books very soon. MORE SERIES BOOKS! Mary Jane Merrill (Clara Ingram Judson) 1918- 1930. Mary Jane is a little girl, who is just turning 5 in the first of the 19 books in this series. . By the time she and her family have had a great many adventures and traveled all over the world, she's about 9 years old at the end of the series. She has the kind of adventures that the Bobbsey Twins and Honey Bunch have, innocent but a bit scarey, involving animals, being lost, misunderstandings, usually cute and innocent. But you also learn a lot about the countries where they travel, at least what they were like pre-WWII. Nice series for kids or nostalgic adults. I'll try to have Mary Jane books in future lists. Mary Jane's Kindergarten (Judson) 1918. If you are interested in the history of early childhood education, this is a painful and enjoyable way to find out a lot about it! You'll read about every-day classes, as well as Halowween, Thanksgiving and Christmas as celebrated in the pre-schools of the last century. And all woven in with over 200 pages of Mary Jane's family life and descriptions of her clothes and food! HB, $2.50 Kay Tracey mysteries ("Frances K. Judd") If you haven't read the Kay Tracey mysteries yet, you're about to get a treat. They are among the long series from what I think of as the Golden Age of "classic" girls series books, the 30s through 50's. Actually, I love all of the series from that era, but Kay is one of the really good ones -- possibly that's because there are quite a few of them, so when you get interested in them, you are happy to find out that there are lots more! You are probably like me, and never want to get to the end of a series, so I'll certainly try to include Kay Tracey books in future lists. There were several editions of the Kay books, from dust-jacketed hardcovers, through attractive picture-covers, to a couple of paperback editions. The books were updated off and on and the numbers were changed from one edition to another. Kay Tracey, #5 The Six Fingered Glove Mystery! In the red HB, Books Inc edition. Isn't this the most interesting title? Yes, there is such a thing as a six-fingered glove, and who better to figure out the mystery surrounding it, than Kay Tracey? HB, in fairly good condition, and covered by a laser copy of the dust jacket from my book. The DJ came from a different edition of the book, since that's the only one I had a DJ for. It's the beautiful style, with a picture of a book on the dust jacket, and a picture of Kay and the glove on the picture.. if you get the picture! Book plua LDJ, $4.50 Kay Tracey #11 in the revised 1952 Books, Inc edition -- Sand Dunes. Fair to good condition. $3.00 Kay Tracey #1 in the tall paperback edition -- The Double Disguise -- $2.50 Kay Tracey #4 in the tall paperback ed -- The Mansion of Secrets -- $$2.25 Kay Tracey #5 in tall pb ed. -- The Green Cameo Myatery -- $2.50 Linda Craig -- get acquainted with this good series!!! It's gone through several incarnations, including a beautiful hardcover edition (which is pretty hard to find,) a beautiful PB printing of the original edition, and a new, slightly smaller PB set, with mostly new titles and quite a few changes. I've read all of them, and I will admit that I liked the older ones better, but even for a non-horsey gal like me, the new ones were good reading, too. If there aren't any Linda Craigs listed here, look for them when you have a chance, and I'll try to list some of them next time! Linda Craig #3, Secret of Rancho Del Sol (1963) -- this is the original hardcover edition, and they were really good-looking books with beautiful picture covers. This one shows Linda, riding Chica d'Oro along the shore, with a wind-swept tree growing out of the rocky shore. Nice! The book is in very good condition. $4.00 Linda Craig #3 in the taller pb numbering, Secret of Rancho Del Sol. It was a library book, but is in good condition, with clear tape along the spine to protect it. PB, $2.00 Linda Craig #7 (new numbering, new 1989 edition) A Horse for Jackie. The new editions have Linda riding a newly-named horse, Amber. Who is Jackie, why does she want so badly to learn to ride, and other questions about this obviously super-rich girl? PB, excellent condition, $2.00 Linda Craig #8 (new numbering) A Star in the Saddle. A soap opera is filming an episode at the next ranch, so Linda and her friends and their horses want to sign on as extras! PB, excellent condition, $2.00 The Adventure Girls (Clair Blank) A short series by the author of the superb Beverly Gray books, you'll only have to find 3 books to complete the series! The name says it all -- they have adventures. HS and early college age girls. If there aren't any Adventure Girls books listed here, I'll try to add some to the next sale list. In the meantime, you can be looking for these interesting books yourself -- good luck! By the way, one of the best things about this series is that the girls live in Maine! But they travel far and wide. I hope to have more Adventure Girls books in the near future. Vicki Barr series. This is a major series from the same era as the Cherry Ames and Connie Blair books. If you don't have this series, GET STARTED ON IT!!! Vicki is a flight stewardess. This might be one of my very, very favorite series -- I re-read the books every few years, because they are so beautifully written and such great mysteries. If I don't have any Vicki books for sale, I'll certainly be looking for them during our book-searching travels. In the meantime, now you know about this series, and maybe you'll find some yourself! Good luck! ----------------------------------------- Connie Blair series was written by Betty Cavanna under the pen name of Betsy Allen. There are 12 books, from the 40s and 50s, and they're all well written (of course,) neatly bound, and very attractive if you can find them in DJ. The titles all have colors in them. Connie's an artist who gets involved in various mysteries through working for an ad agency. I hope to have more books from this series to offer you very soon! Riddle in Red, Connie Blair #2. Picture cover edition, in very good condition except for a little chip missing from the bottom of the spine. Connie gets a job at a cosmetics company -- full of mysteries. $4.00 Meg Duncan series (Holly Beth Walker)This is a wonderful series about a "schoolgirl Sleuth," set in Virginia. Other than the setting, these books remind me of Trixie's or Robin Kane's or a few of the other series from that wonderful era of sweet, mild, friendly girl detectives! The books started out in hardcover editions, with very pretty picture covers. Then they came out in nice paperbacks with different, but also attractive, pictures on the covers. If you like YA mysteries and Siamese cats, you can't help loving the Meg books. I hope to have more Meg books soon. Meg -- Secret of the Witch's Stairway (#2 in the Meg Duncan series) Missing antique silver, a diary from the past century, a witchy old lady, and a secret room down a scary hidden stairway! PB in very good condition, $2.50 Meg -- The Ghost of Hidden Springs (Holly Beth Walker) 1970. #4 in the series. The old mansion has a history of tragedy, which of course attracts Meg and her good friend who are pictured on the cover dressed in Colonial costumes. The back cover shows them in modern clothes (jeans or shorts) looking at an antique portrait. These books are all imbued with the typical Southern sense of history. Good condition, HB, $3 Meg -- The Treasure Nobody Saw PB in poor condition (free with another Meg book when I have any for sale) Meg and The Mystery of Black-Magic Cave, #5 in the series, 1971. This book takes place in Maine, where Meg and her friend are on vacation. You can see how creepy the book is going to be by the cover -- a long, long line of witches parading toward the mouth of a cave, Meg and Kerry are behind some bushes, looking pretty frightened by this sight! HB, PC, pretty good condition. $3.00 Robin Kane Series (Eileen Hill) mid-1960s. These books are very much like the Trixie Beldens, as they are about a group of kids who have fun and solve mysteries, ride horses, and generally have a wonderful time. Like Trixie, Robin's best friend is rich, while she and her family live a middle-class life (though they feel poor, maybe in contrast with her friends.) There are superficial differences from the Trixies, such as the California setting rather than Hudson River area. I think that if there were 39 Robin Kanes, this series would be every bit as popular as Trixie. The real author is Nicolete Meredith Stack, who also wrote some of the Trixies and some very good Maltshop type books. Some Robin Kane books: #1 Mystery of the Blue Pelican 1966. Meet Robin and her friends. They get jobs as extras on a film, chase cattle rustlers and horse thieves, and help the police. HB, PC, good condition, $3.50 #2 Mystery of the Phantom, 1966 Fair condition -- $2 (2) #6 Monster of Wolf Point. Is that a cousin of the Loch Ness monster, on the cover of this book? Robin looks as if she thinks so -- or could it just possibly be a hoax, for some reason connected with a film that her friend Mindy's father is working on? HB in fair condition, $2.00 The Ranch Girls series. The ranch is in Wyoming, but as usual in these very old series, the girls soon branch out and travel, first in the SW, then later in Europe. I'll try to add some Ranch girls books very soon! Ethel Morton at Sweetbrier Lodge (Mabell S. C. Smith) 1915. Last book in the 6-book series. The books in this series all give lessons in practical matters, like cooking and sports. In this one, the girls learn to decorate a house and garden. There are some illustrations of furniture and decorations, and even a few poems. A quirky series, and fun to read. Small HB, good condition, $3.00 Mimi Hammond -- there are only 3 books in this mini-series, but they are cute and worth collecting and reading! The covers are all the same except for the titles, and there aren't any descriptions on the DJ flaps. The Girls' Series Companion even adds that they were printed on poor quality paper. However, quite a few of them survived to this day, browned paper and all. Mimi at Sheridan School (Anne Pence Davis) 1935. 2nd in series about a girl with a penchant for adventure and fun. I have 2 copies in fairly good condition for books in this series, which wasn't very good quality to start with, and is nearly 70 years old now! One sturdy copy $3, another a little better, $3.50 Mimi at Sheridan School (Davis) Subtitle: The Adventures of a Tomboy. The front flap mentions that there's never a dull moment when Mimi is around! The DJ picture is of a really cute young lady on a beautiful black horse, with a very colorful background. This is a very nice copy of the book (to start your "Mimi" collection off right!) with a good, though not perfect, DJ protected in Mylar. The book is sturdy and clean. $5.00 Mimi's House Party (Davis) 1936. All kinds of things happen while several girls are just trying to have a good time! That's what they get for palling around with adventureous Mimi. You'd love to join them! HB with DJ, both in fair but attractive condition. $4.00 Mimi's House Party (Davis) This book is OK inside, but the cover is quite worn. I'll give it away with purchase of a copy of Mimi at Sheridan School. On the Way Home: Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri in 1894, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, with a setting by Rose Wilder Lane (daughter of Laura and Almanzo) Illustrated with vintage and modern photos of spots dear to fans of the Little House books. HB, XL, with nice DJ over a library picture cover. Good condition all around. $2.50 NANCY DREW BOOKS: The Secret in the Old Attic. #21 Nancy Drew hardcover with laser copy of the original DJ. This is the 1944 edition, with the beautiful Nancy on the cover. The book is in fairly good condition, medium blue cover with orange lettering and outline of Nancy with some discoloration. Pages uniformly tanned from age, but quite clean. Loose hinges, but holding together! The endpapers have the orange-on-white scene. One of them is a little wrinkled. Laser dj was made from a DJ that's in very good condition, so it looks very nice. $5.00 The Mystery at Lilac Inn, Nancy Drew #4. This copy is a dark blue hardcover, with navy blue old-style silhouette endpapers. It has a laser copy of the adorable original, old, dust jacket, showing Nancy all dressed in blue with a tam over her golden curls, and high-heel shoes in hand, peeking out from behind the door of a dingy, broken-down house. Inside the room are the crooks, sitting around a table arguing. Wonderful picture! Back cover advertises Judy Bolton. Hardcover book plus LDJ, $5.00 Nancy Drew hardcover, thick blue book. Neatly mended spine, browned pages, several glossy internal illustrations. $2.00 Nancy Drew Books with laser copies of the vintage DJs! As far as I could figure, each of the LDJs comes from the Djs that came on that particular edition of the book. They look really good on the older books! Nancy Drew PB Ghost Stories! "Six bone-chilling tales of Mystery and Terror." 1983. Good cond except for a small crease on the front cover. $2.00 Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase. This is the Applewood Books reprint of the HB original book, with introduction by Nancy Pickard. It certainly does look like the vintage book, with a darling dust jacket though the DJ isn't in perfect condition due to some apparent water damage and warping. Everything's complete, and the interior is good. HB with DJ, $3.00 Nancy Drew, The Bungalow Mystery. It's a HB Applewood reprint of the original book, with a nice vintage picture on the reproduction DJ. Edges of some pages are a little stained, DJ has a tiny tear, otherwise it looks good. Enjoy the look of a valuable old original! $3.00 The Following are newish editions of Nancy Drew, with shiny yellow covers, and the pictures that came on the revised edition YBs. These are in very good condition. Password to Larkspur Lane $2.00 Secret of Shadow Ranch $2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________________________________________________ REFERENCE BOOKS TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL LIFE OR AUTHORS FROM THE ERA WHEN MANY OF OUR FAVORITE BOOKS WERE WRITTEN! AND A FEW OTHER REFERENCES FROM MORE MODERN TIMES. YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT THE NONFICTION SECTION OF THIS LIST, WHERE THERE ARE BIOGRAPHIES AND BOOKS ABOUT AUTHORS WHO WROTE FOR YOUNG READERS. House of Happy Endings: A memoir (Leslie Garis)2007. You'll never see books by Lilian Garis, Cheo Garis or Howard Garis in the same light again, after reading this extremely fascinating book about the prolifically literary family that produced Uncle Wiggly, the Melody Lane books, and many shorter series for girls. The author is the daughter of Roger Garis, who wrote mainly for adults, and the grand-daughter of the couple who wrote so very many books for children. They all lived together in the house that the title refers to, and believe me, there were few happy endings in real life. The book didn't turn me off reading Garis books in the least -- just added fascination to them. There's a wonderful cover picture, and some nice photos in the center of the book. If you like biographies of your favorite writers, as I certainly do, this will keep you reading until way after lights-out! Large PB (originally $14.00) in very good condition $4.00 The Complete Book of Children's Theater (Vernon Howard) Various dates between 1955 and 1969. This is an enormous book! When it says complete, it means COMPLETE! There are complete courses in all kinds of theater, puppet, monologue, charades, humor, skits -- lots of exercises, jokes and games to help kids learn how to act. Toward the end of the book, there are 12 short plays that use the techniques that the kids have learned from the rest of the book. 550 pages full of everything children need to know about acting! HB, XL, good DJ, $4.00 Children's Plays from Favorite Stories (edited by Sylvia E. Kamerman) "Royalty-free Dramatizations of Fables, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Legends." 1959 and 1970. A huge book! There are 50 plays, all written for children in lower and middle grades of school. Some of the familiar stories dramatized in this book -- Princess and the Pea, Three Little Kittens, Robin Hood, Pandora's Box -- you get the idea! Some of the stories are less familiar to us, maybe from other cultures, or other times, but all of them would be very interesting for school-age children. 582 pages, with a long section of production ideas, costumes, lighting, etc. HB, XL, very good DJ, $4.00 Singer Sewing Skills Reference Book, 1955. A large PB that teaches techniques of sewing the types of clothes that we wore back in the Maltshop years. There are lots of small sketches of people wearing the types of clothes that they're teaching you about (even one in a bridal gown, if you look closely!) This was someone's home ec manual, so there are notes written in some of the exercises, but otherwise, the folio is in great condition for being 50 or so years old. If you're interested in how really fine clothes were tailored, or if you need to make costumes for the Maltshop era, this is your book. $2.00 A Trilogy of Christmas Plays for Children (Carol Preston) 1967. This book includes the little plays, hints for directing, music, dances, props, costumes, and just about everything else you might need to put on a Christmas play with children age 10 and up. Nice book, good condition, a pretty dust jacket. HB, XL, DJ, $2.50 The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators: Anita Silvey, editor 2002. This is a HUGE book. We found it very interesting to read, both for what it included and for what it left out. I will be interested to hear what someone else thinks about it. I'll wait until you write to me about it, before I give you my opinions. The editor is a very well-respected editor and publisher of children's books and former editor of Horn Book, the best-known resource magazine for children's librarians and readers. This tall and fat paperback has 540 pages, thousands of entries, occasional illustrations from the books that it talks about, and includes an incredible range from Aesop to Charlotte Zolotow and beyond. Check it out and then we'll have fun talking about it! PB, very large, good condition, $3.50 The Puffin Song Book (compiled by Leslie Woodgate) 1956. Wonderful vintage pb, with songs for children (and adults like me, who love singing and music.) About 100 songs, with very simple accompaniments, duets for both voice and piano, rounds, some that suggest the use of recorders, violin or bells, a musical play, some in languages other than English, in short, a lovely book for sharing your love of music with children. Vintage-look to the cover, but in pretty good condition! $2.50 The Unofficial Official Handbook for Boys -- Boy Scouts of America, 2008. From Dorling Kindersly (DK.) This is an amazing book! Full of pictures, information, suggestions, crafts, survival plans, weather, and very, very real photos of animals, crystals, birds, plants, a skeleton, and so much more. 200 very strong pages of all kinds of amazing "stuff" that everyone, not just Boy Scouts, can enjoy and learn from. Even girls. Especially girls!! I spent an engrossed hour with this book. $3.00 Eyeopeners! How to Choose and Use Children's Books about Real Peole, PLaces and Things (Beverly Kobrin) 1988. Large paperback book, about nonfiction books! It tells a lot about how to use books and what you can discover in them, activities that you can learn about from books, and lists of many non-fiction books by Subjects. Yes, it's been around a while, but the general information is valuable, a lot of the books are almost classics, and this book itself is in very nice condition. Large paperback, $1.50 Living Aboard Your Recreational Vehicle: A Guide to the Fulltime LIfe on Wheels (Gordon and Janet Groene) This is the kind of book that Dave and I pored over for years before we retired, and did spend 4 years "full-timing" or at least "half-timing" in our trailer. Even if you realistically never will do anything like that, books like this are good for dreaming over. Chapters like "How to retire Before 40" (fat chance these days!) How to choose and equip your RV, Mail on the Trail, Your 4-legged Family, Making a Living on the Go -- we studied and dreamed over this sort of thing, and when we did travel, we were fairly well prepared. This book isn't recent (about 20 years old) but most of what it tells about, is still applicable. Fun! large PB, $2.00 Writing Books for Children (Jane Yolen) 1988 edition. Yes, it's getting up in years, but lots of helpful information from a writer whose books seem to number in the high 70s, according to the list inside the front cover. So she must have a very good idea of how to do it right! And this book itself is an example of very readable non-fiction! It's short and snappy, but full of really good suggestions about what kind of writing sells, and where to sell it. Plus some jokes and anecdotes about writing, so you can't get bored reading it. The book quotes a Betty Cavanna and a Nan Gilbert Maltshop, but unfortunately as examples of how fast slang dates a book. Just what we series-and-Maltshop readers love, but if you decide to write for today's teens, take her advice, and stay away from "neat" and "swell." Good condition, Big PB, $2.00 Children's Writer Guide to 1997. This one is different! There are chapters on how to write, where to send manuscripts (probably out of date) research, conferences, and contests. The most interesting part is the chapter written by a number of mostly well-known authors like Madeleine L'Engle, Paula Danziger, and Jerry Spinelli, with profiles of the authors, hints from them, and lists of their works. This is a very big book, with tons of a variety of information to help those of us who are vaguely thinking that we could do something like what our favorite authors are doing! Very large PB, $2.00 2 Cub Scout brochures from 1960 and 1964. These would look good on your shelf along with the Wirt Cub Scout Books (which are also very decorative.) The larger booklet is Staging Den and Pack Ceremonies" and is 225 pages long. Nice patchwork cover with pictures of Cugs in various ceremonies like a flag-raising. The smaller one is "Parents' Cub Scout Book" and is about 60 pages long, written for parents, to help them understand what the Cubs are about, and how to help your little Cub. 2 paperback booklets -- $2.50 Boy Scout Handbook from 1977. This seems to be a near-mint book, with a very colorful cover and myriad gorgeous illustrations. If you don't have any intention of becoming a Boy Scout (or if you're not eligible since you are more the Girl Scout type) you still would benefit from all the instruction on camping, swimming, outdoors cooking, citizenship, first aid, etc etc. Good collectible or good guidebook! Large PB, $2.50 Nonfiction for Children: How to Write it, How to Sell it. I'll quote from the cover -- From the Underground Railroad to the far reaches of space, from dinosaurs to robots, here's a complete guide to writing for five age groups -- and selling to today's editors. Written by Ellen E. M. Roberts, a children's book editor. Very large hardcover, I guess it must cover the subject pretty completely! Illustrated with examples from actual nonfiction books. In almost new condition, with a fine DJ. $3.00 Play, Learn and Grow: An annotated guide to the Best Books and Materials for Very Young Children. (James L. Thomas) This is a huge book! Organized in many ways, the longest part is "annotated titles" of well over 1,000 books for toddlers through early readers. Lots of fun to read! You'd like to read it yourself and then give it to someone who has a new baby. Colorful cover on this HB, which is a former library book, but in very good condition. $2 Play a Part (Bernice Wells Carlson) 1970. There are quite a few plays, puppet plays, and "playlets" in this book, but it's more than that. Instructions, suggestions, and fun! Also a glossary and a bibliography. Cute illustrations. HB, XL, PC, $2.50 Date Talk -- How to Talk to a Boy... To a Girl (R.N.Lawrence)1967. Cute little Scholastic book. The cover couple certainly look as if they need some advice, each one looking as if he/she has lost a best friend. Well, never fear, this book will solve their problems! Rules, little demonstration conversations, and some quizzes, which are mostly all filled out, but you didn't need them anyway, did you? Humorous illustrations (except for that cover picture.) The book is in fair condition. $1.25 Here is your Hobby... Doll Collecting (Helen Young) 1964. Collecting and making all kinds of dolls, A lovely book in very good condition, with an attractive picture cover. It's in a library binding, but there aren't any signs that it was ever in a library. HB, PC, $3.00 The ABC's of Doll Collecting (John C. Schweitzer) 1981. OId, but entertaining. Large paperback, full of fabulous pictures, both color and b/w, and lots of information. Since this book doesn't talk about values, it doesn't matter that it's 25 years old; the dolls are wonderful! Very large PB, good condition, $2.50 That Girl in your Mirror (Vonda Kay Van Dyke) She was Miss America in 1965, and she'd like to tell you what teens of that era needed to know! On the cover it says that she talks sense to every girl about popularity, poise, faith, dating, goals and individuality. From the picture, I wouldn't take advice from her about hair styles, but that was 1965! HB, DJ, $2.00 2005 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. Yes, this is a few years old, but you can get some ideas from it, and decide if you want to spring for the updated version. This is much more than a list of places to send your manuscript! There are articles about writing children's book, interviews with authors, information about various ways to get your writing out in public, etc. Much of this is timeless, but there are also lists of markets for every type of writing. Huge PB. $3.00 Used Book Lover's Guide to the South Atlantic States (1999 edition) Stores come and go, I know, but you can probably use this book to find some stores in areas where you live or travel through. Almost 1000 book dealers listed by state and town, as well as a list of stores' specialties (such as children's books!) Maryland to Florida. The most interesting thing about this book is the commentary on many of the stores. The authors visited the shops, and are open in their opinions of the stores, their stock, and the sales personnel in the stores. Large PB in almost new condition. $2.50 Special Plays for Holidays -- a Collection of One-Act Plays for Young People. (Helen Louise Miller) 1986. 15 short plays for young people of varying levels of acting ability (according to the introduction.) Plays for quite a few holidays, and even one for Book Week! Suggestions for props, costumes, and sets. Hefty PB, XL, but in good condition, $2.50 Best Books for Children, A Lively, Opinionated Guide, for listeners and readers from birth to Age 14 (this is the title and some of the description from the front cover of this very large paperback book.) By Valerie V. Lewis and Walter M. Mayes. 1998. See if you agree with these authors' opinions -- I'll warn you in advance that our beloved series books do NOT form a big part of these lists! That's MY opinion, for what it's worth. Otherwise, a very, very interesting book of about 700 pages! Huge PB, XL, $2.75 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, 2002. Yes, it's out of date, but you can get some interesting ideas for a lot less than the $24 that this cost even back a few years ago. Very large PB, and includes not just lists and addresses, but lots of articles, instructions about writing and illustrating kids' books, and getting them published. Our own PFriend, Linda Joy Singleton, wrote the chapter on Ebooks! This is a huge book, with many pictures, lists of publishers and magazines, lots more. Postage will be calculated along with the rest of your order, but won't be as low as most paperbacks! PB -- $3.00 Boys in Your Life (Jean Condit and Claudia Hatch) 1972 Scholastic paperback. Nice small book with friendly answers to junior-high level questions about much more than just dating life. $1.50 Hi, there, High School! ("Gay Head") high school advice from 1953. From the back of this Scholastic PB, "Hundreds of tips on finding friends, party etiquette, study habits... a blueprint to poise and personality, written especially for teen-agers." It was THE little book for teens who wanted to know what to do to be "in," when I was in HS. PB in Fair cond $1 You're Asking Me? Questions from the Mail Box (Gay Head) 1958. Small PB Teen Aged Book Club (TAB) with chapters about families, dating, proms, the future, etc. Also a section of quizzes (for example, "Do you use deodorant after you bathe? ... Do you often have original ideas? ... Can you say NO to a goodnight kiss, and still leave your date feeling happy?" PB $2.00 Unless you lived through it, you can't imagine how devoted some of us were, to Pat Boone! I read that all teen girls adored either Elvis or Pat (now I am nostalgic about both of them, but at that time, it was Pat for me.) His semi-religious, semi-humorous advice books were widely read and his clean life-style was emulated by the "nice girls." Between You, Me and the Gatepost: A heart-to-heart Message for Teen-agers (Pat Boone) 1960. Very widely read book by one of the most beloved singers of the mid-century. HB, with DJ showing just how clean-cut and adorable Pat looked to us in the 50s!!! $3.00 Dear Cherry (Cherry Boone O'Neill) Questions and Answers on Eating Disorders, 1985 Cherry Boone brought eating disorders to the attention of many people with her first book, Starving For Attention. This book answers questions from readers of that book and her public appearances. I read it from cover to cover with great interest. It's scarey but inspiring. HB in good cond, with good DJ. $2.00 That Girl in your Mirror: Miss America 1965 Talks Sense to Every Girl. (Vonda Kay Van Dyke) light book of advice from a big-haired beauty of the late Maltshop era. Quite chatty and interesting, with advice like "If there is anything more unattractive than thoughtlessness, it's rudeness, and that's downright ugly." I know a few people who should read this one! PB copy of That Girl in your Mirror -- $1.50 Books and the Teen-age Reader: A Guide for teachers, librarians and parents. 1971. Full of many booklists and information XL DJ $2.50 Ann Landers talks to Teenagers about Sex 1963 This is the book that Beany and Katie Rose probably read and lived by! pb, $1 _________________________________________________________________ "MALTSHOP BOOKS" --TEEN NOVELS FROM THE NOSTALGIA YEARS, AND OTHER GIRLS' ROMANCES AND NOVELS OF THE LAST 65 YEARS!!! Please note that I have mixed hardcover and paperback books in this portion of the list. There will be an indication of whether it is HB or PB At the end of the main list, there is a section called "Try a Maltshop for a dollar" All of those are PBs and each is $1.00. FIRST, HERE IS A BIG LIST OF "MALTSHOP MYSTERIES" THAT WILL PROBABLY APPEAL TO THE SAME PEOPLE AS THE MALTSHOP BOOKS. MOST WERE WRITTEN IN THE APPROXIMATE SAME ERA AS THE MS BOOKS, AND WITH MANY OF THE SAME ELEMENTS. AND THEY WERE WRITTEN FOR TEEN GIRLS, AS THE MALTSHOP BOOKS WERE! I'VE READ ALL OF THEM AND CAN RECOMMEND THEM HIGHLY. FURTHER NOTE: THESE HAVE BEEN VERY POPULAR SINCE I STARTED LISTING THEM IN THIS SPACE, SO CATCH THEM WHILE THEY ARE HERE! ANOTHER NOTE: DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE LISTINGS UNDER "MYSTERY" FURTHER DOWN ON THIS SALE LIST. SOME OF THEM ARE SIMILAR TO THESE MYSTERIES, TOO. Mystery of the Five Bright Keys (Mary Urmston)reading copy -- hardcover with stained cover, and a bit of warping. no date listed, but I know it's from the 1940s because I read it when I was young, and it was one of the first mysteries I can remember reading. One of the first of a very long line of mysteries I've read! Family rents a wonderful house, but no one can find the 5 keys that were supposed to come with it. Does someone else have them, and if so, will that person be able to get into the house and make trouble? As you can imagine, I recommend this book highly. Very good story, very nice pictures of kids in those classic 1940s clothes! XL HB in fair condition, $1.00 Mystery at Boulder Point (Eleanore Jewett) 1949. Girl and boy together investigate spooky noises and lights, and try to figure out why the last people who rented a seaside cottage, left so suddenly. It's also a very sweet story about two lonely young people finding kind adult friendship and plans for the future. That's why it's more than just a mystery, it's something special. HB, XL, a few spots on the pages, but it's a very sturdy book with a nice clean cover. HB, XL, $3.50 Helen Girvan wrote some of the very best "Maltshop Mysteries." Her settings are always interesting, and her heroines are often trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. I hope to have some Girvan books in the near future! Just Dial a Number (Edith Maxwell) 1971. A sort of latter-day Maltshop with a few drugs, and crank phone calls that have very serious results. If you crave comfort when you read, don't choose this one. But it's a riviting story, strongly rooted in the leary 1970s. It even includes a teen hangout actually named "The Malt Shop." HB, XL, $2.00 Mystery of the Silent Friends (Robin Gottlieb) 1964. The "Friends" are antique dolls. And they're in danger! PB, $2.00 Crime and Judy (Ruby L. Radford) 1960. Several of us reacently reviewed this book for Whispered Watchword, and 2 of us gave it a very high grade! The other person wouldn't give a mystery a good grade if written by A Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie! On the cover, it tells you "The Deadly Swamp... from which there is no return for the curious." Picture of a frightened couple trying to make that impossible return. People named Judy are pretty good at doing the impossible when it comes to solving mysteries, aren't they? I highly recommend this darling mystery and the heroine, another red-haired Judy.) PB, fair condition, $1.00 When I was in grade school, it was really not too easy for us to find good mysteries in the library (of course they didn't stock Nancy Drew or Judy Bolton in their children's room.) Helen Fuller Orton books were the very best mysteries for young readers, and I read them over and over again, no matter that I knew the endings by heart. Nice kids, from happy homes, but able to help less fortunate people (lonely kids, desperate old folk, neglected animals.) When I need something truly satisfying and simple to read, I still re-read Orton's books and I'll add more as soon as I can. Mystery in the Pirate Oak (Helen Fuller Orton) 1949. Orton's mysteries are short, sweet and nostalgic. This one stars 2 nice children who try to help an older neighbor find a treasure, and also befriend a lonely boy. Aimed at young readers, but heartening for the rest of us. I love the cover picture, 2 kids in cute clothes from the .50s, up on a platform in the most wonderful old tree that you ever saw! Tree climbing was an obsession with me for many years, and this one would have been a dream come true for me. PB, $2.00 Annette Turngren wrote some of the VERY BEST mysteries for girls. Each one has a different and interesting setting, and includes the elements of a Maltshop as well as a complex mystery story. I'm close to positive that you would really like any of them! Ellen Turngren was Annette Turngren's sister, so I'm putting this book here, even though it's not really a mystery. From 1961, it's a cute novel and romance that takes place in the farm country of Minnesota, in the early 1900s. The story of a whole family, a couple and their 5 children, who all have their own stories. It's not long enough or heavy enough to be called a saga, but you'll be caught up in the story. HB, DJ, both in fairly good condition. $2.50 Paperback mysteries by Augusta Huiell Seaman. Seaman has been reviewed in some recent issues of Whispered Watchword. Her vintage books are always interesting, and were very popular in the 30s through 50s. Sorry if there aren't any Seaman books at this time. More as soon as I can get them. The Mystery of the Great Swamp (Marjorie A. Zapf) 1967. Okefenokee swamp setting. Boy explores the swamp in his boat, with his pup. This book might appeal more to boys than girls, but if you enjoy wilderness adventure, wild and tame animals (including a pet alligator!) and a totally unexpected and amazing mystery, this is your book. HB, PC, moderately good condition, $2.50 Another copy of Great Swamp, PB, $1.50 Here are 2 books by Teri Lester, both from a pb series by Signet books, called "Novels of High Romance." They have romantic but creepy covers, and promise great excitement. They are "Hawaiian Cruise" and "Episode in Rome" -- obviously very romantic settings! Episode in Rome is about a fashion designer, Hawaiian Cruise is about an heiress who takes a job as a hostess on the liner, to escape from a big problem but "little did she suspect that danger had booked a special passage on her Hawaiian cruise!" These 2 PB books, in fine condition, for $2.50 LOTS MORE MYSTERIES IN THE "MYSTERY" CATEGORY FURTHER DOWN THIS LIST, INCLUDING PHYLLIS A. WHITNEY, RUTH CHEW, AND MANY OTHERS!!! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOW TO THE "STRAIGHT" MALTSHOP BOOKS and similar stories BY BETTY CAVANNA: Hardback unless noted Betty Cavanna, who died a few years ago, was one of the most popular teen authors from the 1940's through the 1960's. She is still extremely popular with all of us who love the "Maltshop" type of book. Her earlier books are absolutely wonderful, perfect reading for nostalgia and simple romance. Later, she wrote a lot of mysteries, including the Connie Blair series under a pen name. Every collector of old girl's novels ought to have every Cavanna title! And you can afford them at these prices! Fancy Free (Cavanna) 1961. Fancy is a girl, who goes with her archeologist father to a dig in Peru. She thinks it's going to be a lightweight adventure, with lots of men and boys around. Well, you know how it is, she is pretty disappointed until she begins to understand what it is that fascinates her father and a lot of other archeologists, especially (of course) one of them. There are some actual photos on the endpapers, because Cavanna wrote from a background of travel to the sites where Fancy spent her summer. HB, XL, fair condition book, but with a very nice DJ to dress it up. $3.00 Jenny Kimura (Cavanna) 1964. Half Japanese, half American, Jenny comes to the US to stay with her grandmother, and has both good and bad experiences, especially in her relationship with a boy who falls in love with her while his mother is very snobbish and unpleasant. It's a wonderful story, but the pb book is in rather poor condition. The story and covers are all there and after you read it, you can look for an upgrade -- or throw it away at this price. $1.00 Mystery at Love's Creek (Cavanna)1965. Another wonderful setting for a Cavanna book! This one takes place on a cattle station in the Australian Outback. Girl is visiting her uncle there, where there isn't any contact with the outside world except for a 2-way radio. So you'd think life would be idyllic in such a place, wouldn't you? Of course not! This is a mystery, and the girl has to help solve it or her uncle and aunt will lose the ranch. And do you think there just might be some romance in the story? HB, XL, good condition, with a very good dust jacket. $4.00 Lasso Your Heart (Cavanna) 1952. Cavanna set her books in such great places! This one is about 2 girl cousins who visit each other, one in Pennsylvania's Main Line, and the other one Way out West in Texas! Each one has to adjust, but as you can tell from the title, the majority of the story is set on the ranch. Lots of romance in this one! The cover and the endpaper designs are especially attractive for those of us who love all things Western. HB, personal copy, good condition, and covered by a laser copy of the original dust jacket, showing a cowboy with a guitar, serenading a young lady in what I think used to be thought of as a square dance skirt and camp shirt. And the title is printed inside a lasso! HB, LDJ, $4.50 Spurs for Suzanna (Cavanna) 1947. This is one of her early, really great, books! Suzanna is a city girl, living the good life, maybe a bit spoiled. Does she need a "spur" to get her going? Well, things are a little unsettled in her family, so she is sent to spend the summer in the country with a big and busy family. There, she has to take responsibility, learn to put up with teasing. But there are compensations -- mainly beautiful horses to ride and train -- and maybe a small romantic interest in one of the country cousins??? Detailed and fascinating endpaper illustrations, and a wonderful cover picture. HB, personal copy in fair condition, with a very nice laser copy of the original DJ. $4.50 Spurs for suzanna -- paperback copy, fairly good condition, nice vintage cover on this small Scholastic edition. $2.00 Mystery on Safari (Cavanna) 1970. It's almost as good as going on a safari yourself, and probably more comfortable, especially when the exciting and frightening mystery comes along! It's easy to see that Cavanna actually did take this trip, and knows about the interesting sights and the amazing lodges where people stay. The girl, her grandmother, and an attractive guy, are thrilled by all the animals, to say nothing of solving the mystery. HB, XL, decent condition for a library book, and a very good DJ. $4.00 Angel on Skis (Cavanna) 1957. The 3 divisions of this book take Angela from age 14 to 16, and tells about her mother's purchase of a ski lodge in Vermont, the work and fun of running it, and Angel's determination to learn to ski. She didn't have any spare money, so this took a lot of time. On the way, you will enjoy the family, and their new venture. And did I mention a light, typically Cavanna, romance? HB, personal copy in good condition, with DJ, picturing pretty Angel in her cute ski cap, with the mountain and lodge in the background. $4.50 PB copy of Angel on Skis, good condition. $2.00 Accent on April (Betty Cavanna)1960. Girl's older brother used to be her best friend, but he's turned into a stranger, much too mature to bother with little sister, who of course is very hurt. But in some ways, it helps her to find her own interests and maturity. Their mother feels as if life with the 2 teens is too much like an April day -- sunny one minute, stormy the next minute! On top of all this, a Swedish exchange student arrives (much earlier than they had expected!) and just can't understand why the siblings can't get along. His presence does help things, though, and it makes the story even more interesting! Nice DJ picture, very attractive young couple with such typical late '50s haircuts and crisp classic clothing. Good HB, with most of a DJ -- some of the DJ back is a bit torn, but I've enclosed it in mylar so it looks good. $4.50 Banner Year (Cavanna)1987. Banner is a beautiful horse, living there on Martha's Vinyard with the girl who loves to ride him around that lovely island off the Massachusetts coast. Romance, horses, and what a setting! HB, XL, good condition. with a good dust jacket, too! $4.00 Mystery of the Emerald Buddha (Cavanna) Girl goes with her father, a photographer, while he works on a book about Thailand. There's more to her wanting to go, than just enjoying an exotic trip -- she doesn't get to spend much time with her father, as her parents are sepaparted, and she is a lonely girl. Mystery, romance, and a wonderful setting. Ruffles and Drums (Cavanna) 1975 -- April 1775, isn't that a date that you won't forget! For the girl in this book, it's when she was 16, and watching all the amazing events in Concord, Massachusetts. Including helping a wounded British soldier (I'm not telling you anything that isn't right on the dust jacket description.) I don't know how Cavanna managed to write such good stories in so many genres -- history, mystery, series books, career and animal stories, and of course Maltshop romances. Takes place during 1775-1776. The men go off to fight, and the girl has to stay home and take care of the farm with her mother. Wounded soldier is left on their doorstep, so they have to take care of him even though he's the enemy. HB, XL, DJ, very good cond, $4.00 Around the World Today series by Cavanna and her husband George Harrison (Photographer for these books.) Large picture books for perhaps junior high age, there are at least 8 of them. Each is about a child in a different foreign country. This one is about Lo Chau of Hong Kong. 1963. $3 Every Maltshop collector should have a copy of Going on Sixteen, it's just about the definition of the late 40's teen novel! School life, family, dogs, clothes, dates, a little sweet romance. It's a wonderful early (1946) Maltshop type book. Going on Sixteen, XL, in fair condition, with a lovely laser copy of the DJ, showing a girl lying on a daisy-covered hillside, wearing rolled-up jeans, camp shirt, and saddle shoes. There's a cute collie pup sitting beside her. You'll like the cheery interior pictures, too. This book seems to turn up in rather poor condition, but that's obviously because so many youthful library customers loved it more than almost any other book. And the laser copy of the original DJ makes it look like a new book (until you open up to the interior...) HB, XL, DJ, $2.50 Going on Sixteen -- personal copy, good condition, with a nice laser copy of the original DJ. $4.50 Going on Sixteen, hardcover, in the Especially For Girls edition (thin, nice picture cover. It says something about being a special edition, but I don't know whether anything is edited out. As far as I can see, it's all there. $2 PB copy of Going on Sixteen in good condition, with girl, dogs, and a tree, on the cover. $2.00 (2) END OF THE LIST OF BETTY CAVANNA BOOKS ---------------------------------------------------- CAREER-ROMANCES I almost never sell a book from this category if I don't have another copy of it in my own collection! They are a wonderful adjunct to your Maltshop books, as they have the same appeal, while also being accurate descriptions of what it's like to work in a specific occupation (at least at the time they were written.) There was a long discussion of CR's in last November's Whispered Watchword. Pat and I love them! Check out some of the Maltshop authors for more career-romance, though not officially designated as that category. Jan Nickerson is a good one to look at, and if there are ever any books by Marjory Hall. Cavanna does well with that sort of subject, and so does Marjorie Holmes, and --- and --- Just take a look! Candy Stripers (Lee Wyndham) 1958. OK, maybe Candy Striping isn't a real career, but several people have told me this was their favorite book when they were Candy Stripe age. And the author wrote quite a few authentic career books! Darling cover picture and many attractive internal illustrations. By the way, do I need to tell you what the book is about? PB, $1.50 District Nurse (Faith Baldwin) 1932. Nurse works with people in poverty, and doesn't have time for love. She should have remembered that she was in a Faith Baldwin story -- she hasn't a chance to avoid a lovely romance! There are side stories, the invalid mother, the troubled sisters, and all the people that the nurse's job brings her into contact with. A good Career Romance or Nurse Romance HB without DJ -- $1.50 Forward to Teach (Francis V. Lloyd, Jr.) 1967. This is NOT a novel, but a book about teaching as a career. The front cover looks like a career novel, with a really 1960s-looking woman teacher reading to a gropu of kids. There are chapters on many teaching options, grades, special ed, music, etc. And quite a few interesting stories about things that happened to various teachers. Good condition HB, XL, HB DJ. $2.50 A Nurse in the Yukon (Amy v. Wilson, R. N.) 1965. OK, this one is non-fiction, and not s romance except in the larger sense of being an esoteric adventure story, but where else could I list it? True story of a nurse who spent the mid-20th century in the remotest of settlements, northern British Columbia, where she often had to travel by dogsled to visit her patients, and fought temps of 45 below in order to serve sick people! Starts out with a terrible diptheria epidemic, includes lots of other interesting medical emergencies as well as amusing incidents. HB, XL, with good DJ. $2.00 Some Career-Romances are more "romance" than "Career," but they are similar to the ones that describe careers in detail. Many of these are about nurses, as this was a wildly popular genre for about 30 years from the 40s through 60s. I always enjoy reading these light novels, as they are fairly similar to Maltshops, though aimed at adult women. These "Nurse-Romances" and other adult career-romances, were very common at one time, but are getting harder to find due to their being discarded from many libraries in the past 10 or 15 years. Here are some of the most interesting: Doctor Lochinvar (Jean Carew) 1969 Originally from Arcadia Houae, this is a PB about a Physical Therapist and the doctor that she worked with. And her new apartment, and her job (of course) Nice cover picture of the PT working with a little girl, with the inevitable brooding doctor in the background. There's a bit of a mystery in this story, too. PB, $1.00 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MORE MALTSHOP BOOKS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS!! Teen-Age Tales, Book 2 (edited by Strang and Roberts) 1959. The 27 stories are from a lot of sources, teen and adult magazines and a variety of books from 1939 through the late '50s. A lot of the stories are about boys, but they are all appealing to girls, too. It's a text-book: I would imagine that it's supplimentary reading for high schoolers, so there are study questions and discussion subjects, but it's mostly very good stories from the Maltshop era. A good many of them include mild romance! HB, Picture cover, good condition, $3.25 Bobs, A Girl Detective (Carol Norton) 1928. Early for the Maltshops, but really appealing to most of us! 4 formerly rich sisters find their late father's investments have crashed -- sound familiar? They actually have to go to work! One is a terrible snob. You'll love her snitty comments. She tries to make her friends think she's still rich, and goes off to spend the summer at a houseparty. The other girls get jobs, and Bobs is even "taking the mishap.. as a great adventure -- but even she did not dream of the truly exciting adventure that lay before them!" She decides to become a girl detective, unheard of at that time. This single-title book resembles the Blythe Girls series, but is even more dramatic and romantic! HB, fairly good condition though the pages are brown. $3.25 Books by Jane D. Abbott. She wrote before the era that we think of as the "Maltshop" years, but if you like those stories, you will really enjoy the cute books by Abbott. She wrote about girls in a variety of situations and settings, but I've liked every one that I've read. They are written for the teens of the early decades of the 20th century, so they are fairly long (you get your money's worth!) but fast reading since you are eager to find out what happens next. For example (and the quotes are from the back cover of one of the books): I hope to have more books by Abbott very soon! Aprilly (Abbott) 1921. "The charming story of a young girl, child of the circus, and her unusual adventures." Not much about the circus in the book, however, as it takes place mostly in Blossom, Maine, when she ran away FROM the circus! And became a hired girl of sorts, after which .... you read it! Vintage looking book, pretty outline picture on the cover, and several glossy full-page internals. $3.50 Another copy of Aprilly, outside covers are stained, but there is a beautiful picture inside the front and back cover, and the pages are clean. $2.25 Laura Cooper Rendina is the author of the popular Debbie Jones series. She wrote quite a few books about teen girls and their adventures, problems, romances, and mysteries! All with an interesting twist! I'll try to add more books by Rendina, as soon as I can. Skip (Aileen Fisher) 1958. This could be listed in the Animal section since the cover picture is of a really nice-looking girl with her beloved Collie dog. It is about both of them -- the girl's family, who want to get rid her dog when he becomes blind. She has to figure out something to change their minds. Lots of ranch and animal fun, good family cross-currants, school scenes, too. PB, pretty good cond, $1.50 BEVERLY CLEARY'S MALTSHOPS are even better than her Ramona books, which are something wonderful themselves. I wish she'd written many more books for older girls, but unfortunately, she only wrote 3 or 4. Try them -- you'll discover books that are as good as Cavanna's early novels, or Emery's best. Fifteen is a true Maltshop classic! I think everyone who loves Cavanna or duJardin or Emery, should read this Cleary if no others. I'll have more Cleary Maltshops very soon. Luckiest girl (Beverly Cleary ) 1958. Highly Recommended! very enjoyable Maltshop! Girl spends a school year in California with family friends, gains independence as well as appreciation of her family back home. I think, however, that she will decide to move back to CA when she grows up -- I certainly would! One of my favorite Maltshops, in fact, "everyone" loves this one! Reading it makes you feel happy. By the way, Cleary revealed that it was quite autobiographical. Luckiest Girl -- hardcover with library printed picture cover (just the same picture as on the dust jacket) the book was popular, so it's been well read, but still sturdy, with a good many more "reads" in it. $2.75 Luckiest girl in very good condition PB $2 (2 copies) Sister of the Bride (Beverly Cleary) 1963 Girl plans on being part of a big, fancy wedding when her college-age sister gets married. Sis has other plans! Meantime, what about her own love life? Adorable story! If you love to read about wedding plans, this book will be especially entertaining for you, but the Maltshop atmosphere is strong, too. The HB is illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, another great thing about this book! And if you've read other Cleary books (who hasn't?) you won't be surprised at the fun and humor in this one. Weddings can be funny, and so can families, especially if Beverly Cleary has something to do with them! Good cond PB $2 and fair copy $1.50 ******************************************************** Maltshoppy books by Phyllis A. Whitney. This author certainly could write well in a number of genres! Mysteries for younger readers, romances for young adults, and of course good novels for adults. In all of her books, there are central problems of family relationships, reactions to changes, and a strong sense of location -- often an unusual setting. All of these things play well in her Maltshop type books -- I'll try to add more Whitney maltshops as soon as I can! Nobody Likes Trina (Whitney)1972. Girl moves to a small country town, and doesn't make friends. She is sort of forced to do things with Trina, who is really strange and totally unpopular at the school. There seems to be some secret involved with the way Trina acts, and this story explores friendship and behavior, with a background of adventure in a strange rural setting. You know what a good story teller Whitney was! Good PB, $2.00 End of YA books by Whitney +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lavinia Davis is one of the best Maltshop authors! She could write about families, horses, mysteries! She writes about teen girls and boys equally expertly. Plenty of humor, but not laid on with a trowel! Her families are funny and interesting, and you'll love the families that she writes about. Nice settings, too. Hobby Horse Hill (Davis) 1939. Girl spends the summer with her horse-mad cousins. She feels left out but eventually learns how wonderful it is to be part of a family. Some mystery, lots of family life, and of course, horses. As all of Davis's books, this one is a very nice story. PB, $2.00 (2) Junior Miss (Sally Benson) early 40s stories.(Sally Benson)1939-1941 I think these stories appeared in magazines before they were put together into a charming maltshoppy type novel about a girl, her friends, her pets, and her family. Very funny, and very sweet. If you haven't read it, it's time you Maltshop fans did read it! HB, good condition, nice cover graphics. $3.00 Another HB copy of Junior Miss, good condition, but the cover has white smudges here and there. HB, $2.00 MILDRED LAWRENCE is one of the unsung Maltshop greats. Some of the settings sound odd but they aren't emphasized to the extent of overshadowing the lighthearted stories. If there are no M Lawrence books at this time, I'll add more when I can. MALTSHOP BOOKS BY JAN NICKERSON Nickerson was one of the finest Maltshop authors, on a par with Marjorie Hall and Betty Cavanna. She starts by exploring a career choice, but includes lots of the best Malty aspects -- dating, family relations, "teen angst" and school situations. I hope to have more of Nickerson's books again soon! Mary Jane (Dorothy Sterling) 1959. Sterling wrote a wide variety of books, including cute ones (Cub Scout and Brownie Scout Mysteries), education ones (Caves, Ferns and Mushrooms) and mysterious ones (Silver Spoon mystery and Old Post-Box Mystery.) Here she writes a semi-Maltshop, semi-dramatic book about a nice young girl who is one of the first to integrate her junior high school. It's a very good book about school, home, and friendship, as well as a poignant story that can help young teens learn that people are all brothers and sisters. HB Copy of Mary Jane, XLibrary with nice dust jacket slightly torn, but over an identical picture cover! Pretty girl looks apprehensive but hopeful, in front of a school. $2.50 Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines (Ruthe S. Wheeler) 1934. The ad for this book says "we feel positive that this book is going to be the best girl's story we have ever published." (Goldsmith publishing Company.) About a girl who learns to be a stewardess years before Vicki Barr. But she, too, has wonderful adventures and a few mysteries. Book in fair condition, with clear taping over spine. Good interior pages. HB, $2.00 Better condition copy of Jane, Stewardess -- $3.00 -------------------------------------- Books by Rosamond Du Jardin Wait for Marcy (du Jardin) 1950. First of the wonderful Marcy Rhodes series. You can read the others without reading this one first, but it's more fun if you can read them in order! Marcy has one romantic problem after another in this series, and there are lots of good family and school scenes, as in all of du Jardin's books. Du Jardin is one of the Big Three or Four or however many we count as the best maltshop writers! I think they've all been reprinted lately, but here's a small PB with a small price -- $2.50 (2) Practically Seventeen (du Jardin) 1943 to 1949. First in the Tobey and Midge Heydon series. Simple problems, simpler times, or at least it seems that way from our perspective. Tobey meets all kinds of situations including first romance. The reason for the uncertain publication date is that several of the chapters appeared as magazine stories prior to the full book, which came out in 1949. Practically Seventeen (du Jardin) PB with ugly cover picture, but the same really good story inside. $2.00 (2) Well, I'll try to have more books by duJardin in the future! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Because of Anne (Laura Nelson Baker)1965. This is sort of a Maltshop from the male point of view. I'll just quote the inside cover: " Because of Anne, Ross Forster's whole summer -- in fact, his whole life, he guessed -- would be different. For Anne, a soft-spoken, thoughtful, dark-haired beauty, was staying the summer with Ross and his family. Gone now was Ross's preoccupation with dances and the easy life. Gone, too, was his casual, close relationship with blonde Carol.. and their summer gang. Instead, Ross was becoming interested in helping the disturbed boys that Anne was counseling in the camp across the lake. And he was becoming aware of his new responsibilities, both at home and as a lifeguard... because of Anne..." HB, XL, PC all in very good condition, $3.00 Sycamore Year (Mildred Lee) 1974. A rather dark love story. Girl's friend has a gorgeous voice, but no confidence, tough family life. Falls for Mr Wrong. Both girls impacted by friend's pregnancy. Nice family scenes, including little kids, serious growing-up story. PB copy, $1.25 ----------------------------------------------- ***The Following entries are Whitman Authorized editions. Good, fanciful, often mysterious stories, supposedly about famous actresses or comic strip characters. Some others are about young women who are active in the service or the home front during WWII. Good authors, MALTSHOPPY type stories. Lots of "atmosphere" in most of them. If you've read one of them and liked it, you'll probably like them all. I certainly do like them!!!! Many illustrations, some very artistic and romantic, some done in cartoon style. No DJs unless noted, but the books are in good condition. Some of the pages are a little fragile, due to the wartime paper they used. Betty Grable and the House with the Iron Shutters (Kathryn Heisenfelt, illustrated by Henry Vallely) 1943. Very Wierd, creepy and scarey! Supposedly haunted house is occupied by 2 very strange old ladies full of secrets and madness. All written in the impressionistic, almost poetical style that characterizes Heisenfelt's stories. Betty Grable is the central figure, though of course not as a movie star, but as one of 2 girls who are taking their vacation by driving wherever their whim takes them, and staying in small-town hotels or, in this case, creepy mansions! HB, pretty good condition, with many pictures of girls in early-40s hairstyles and wide-lapel tailored dresses! $3.50 Annette 4-book Set, by Doris Schroeder, from 1960 through 1964. These are not really about that popular girl, "Annette" Funicello, from the Mickey Mouse Club, but about a girl based on her character, and her adventures in the Southwest. Whitmen's Authorized Editions used Annette's popularity as a draw to sell books, while giving us a really well-written series of 5 books about this girl. They pretty much follow each other in order, but can certainly be read separately if you want to. The covers are very lovely, each one showling that lovely girl that so many young teen boys had crushes on, in a different situation. Two of them feature horses, one has her in a little sailboat, and there's an Elvis-lookalike on the back cover of the 4th. Each book has a picture cover that wraps all around from front to back. Nice-looking series, though they suffer as all the typical Whitman PC "cello" type books -- with weak bindings and mono-color interior pictures. But this set is in very good condition, compared with most of them, and you'll have nearly all the Annette books when you get these 4 HBs! The titles are: Mystery at Medicine Wheel Sierra Summer Mystery at Moonstone Bay Mystery at Smugglers's Cove Annette 4-book set, $7.00 Annette and the Mystery at Smugglers' Cove (Doris Schroeder) 1963. Nice copy of this book, which is a combination of a Gidget-style beach and sailing story, and a mystery, all starring an Annette who vaguely resembles the one who appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club. Colorful cover picture and some internal sketches. Lots of danger and adventure, fun and friendship. Have fun! $2.50 MORE WHITMAN AUTHORIZED EDITION BOOKS AHEAD! April Kane and the Dragon Lady 1942. ("A Terry and the Pirates Adventure") Very exciting, with dramatic illustrations! This comic strip was very popular when I was a girl. NO DJ. OK copy, $2. Better copy $3.00 Tillie the Toiler and the Masquerading Duchess. 1943. "Based on the Famous Newspaper strip by Russ Westover" Tillie and her mother are about to lose their house now that the mortgage is overdue -- and Tillie had worked (toiled) so hard to make this a cozy happy home for them! It wouldn't be so bad if the Duchess didn't want the house for herself. OK, it's complicated, but it's great fun, and you'll love the cute cartoonish illustrations! Very nostalgic for those of us who used to live for the newspaper comics in the good old days (love those permed hair-dos, big hats, short skirts, and huge shoulder pads!) Whitman Authorized edition, in very nice condition, $3.50 ***End of Whitman authorized editions.*** *********************************** Books in the Whitman Fighters for Freedom Series weren't anything like the grim stories that you might imagine. They are wonderful stories about girls in various aspects of the war effort in the early '40s, something on the line of the Cherry Ames books from that era. There are books about Army Nurse, Canteen Girl, member of the Girl Orchestra, etc. I'll try to have more of this interesting series very soon. MARY STOLZ was my favorite author when I was a teen. Very emotional, a bit heavy sometimes! Always extremely well written, realistic and worthwhile. We recently found out that Mary Stolz died, in her late 80s, in December of 2007. The Noonday Friends (Stolz) 1965. Friends aren't speaking any more, among other things that are bothering one of them. Family relationships, friendship, problems of almost-teen girls. good PB, $1.50 Leap before you Look (Mary Stolz) 1972 XL DJ $3 Leap before you Look (Mary Stolz) PB $2 (2?) To Tell your love (Mary Stolz) 1950. Stolz's first book has several story lines, some ecstatcally happy and some not so happy. Main characer is a nice teenaged girl who's in love with a charmer, who doesn't always act as charming as he looks! And her close friend is married (very young) with a baby. Really good contrast between their lives (Extremely realistic picture of the young family, by the way, emphasizing that fearful mistake that writers of that era loved to preach against -- a Young Marriage.) Main character has a wonderful family, including a sister who surprises everyone when she falls in love with... well, you don't need to know everything before you read it! I've read it many times, yet when I sat down to write this description, I had to read it again! Hardcover XL with a laser copy of the original, really interesting and vintage-looking dust jacket. $4.00 To Tell your Love in a Scholastic PB $2 (2) Who Wants Music on Monday? (Stolz) 1963. Actually not about music, but about complicated family relationships, mother-daughter, 2 sisters, brother-sister, None of her books are exactly lightweight, but this one is actually funny in places. Was obviously very popular, as it was reprinted more than once in PB. HB with nice DJ, though the girls in the DJ picture don't look much like the former couple of decades, with their long necks and big eyes. A very popular style of illustration in the era following the Maltshop romanticism. A good sturdy hardcover in very nice condition, personal copy, with DJ. Back cover has my favorite picture of Stolz, she's so beautiful and holding such a reluctant cat! $3.50 PB with sort of a hippy collage on the front cover. I get such a kick out of the way these editors, or whoever makes the decisions, try to tailor the covers to the fashion du jour. PB $1.50 The Edge of Next Year (Mary Stolz)1974 Quite a hard story to read, as it's about a boy whose mother has just died. This is so different from the easy acceptance of parental loss that we see in series books ("her mother had died when she was very young, and a motherly housekeeper took her place...") All of Stolz's books are excellently written, as this one certainly is. XL with PC, also a very good DJ. $3 (2) Ready or Not (Mary Stolz) 1953. This may be her most enjoyable book, and is first in a mini-series about Morgan and her family. She feels responsibility for her widowed father and her siblings, but needs a life of her own. Deals with poverty, love and city life. As a teen, I read it about 6 times! Beautiful "People's Book Club" edition, with decorative DJ, endpapers. $4 The Day and the Way we Met (Stolz) 1956. After Morgan was married, Julie had to try to take her place as mainstay of the family. I love this short series, and will happily make up a 2-book set for you if you want to read them both together. PB, not beautiful, but a tight and complete book. End of books by Stolz ******************************* Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor (Ruby Lorraine Radford) 1946. I recently researched and wrote about Ruby Radford, who wrote far more books than I had ever realized (including some romances and career-romances under the name of Marsha Ford.) She knew how to write an engrossing book, whether mystery, romance, spy, career, whatever. This one is a Whitman edition, with, as usual, many cute illustrations, and plenty of suspense. Peggy loves to work with tools, fix things, and invent things. "Peggy should have been a boy" says her father. (I thought I'd warn you about that, before I tell you how much I liked this book. Unfortunately, also minority stereotyping, so typical of that era.) Penny literally has to save the farm, and I can assure you that the family didn't look down on her talents in the end! Plenty of mystery, and some Maltshop elements (romance, clothes, lots of fun.) I have a suspicion that it's not just coincidence that Peggy's name is so close to that of another, more famous, Parker -- Penny Parker by Wirt. This story resembles a Penny Parker story. You'll like it! These old Whitman adventure books had 2 weaknesses -- bindings are sometimes a little loose, and pages have sometimes turned a uniformly brown shade. $2.50 Light a Single Candle (Beverly Butler) 1962. Teen girl gradually loses more and more of her sight, and finally goes to a School for the Blind. She is NOT a happy camper for a long time. You'll find this a very amazing book, partly due to the fact that the author writes from personal experience. Getting a guide dog is a very nice part of this story. A book that you really shouldn't miss. HB, XL, PC, fair condition, $3.50 Light a Single Candle PB, $2.00 When Sara Smiled (Kathleen Robinson) 1962. Very, very shy girl -- and she's much more shy with boys than with girls. Her love of horses made her wish she could at least say something to the boy who owned a very special horse, but she just stood there and blushed. Finally, she tried practicing talking with horses. That and her lovely smile changed her life, but there's a beautiful story leading up to her new maturity -- she doesn't turn into a social butterfly, but you can see that she will have a good chance for happiness. HB, Whitman Teen Novel -- Nice picture cover wraps all around the back. $4.00 Make-Believe Daughter ("A Mystery Featuring The Three Matildas") by Laura W. Douglas, 1972. A Whitman Teen Mystery. Would you believe 3 girls of nearly the same age, all officially named Matilda? Luckily they have different nicknames. There are lots of other good characters in this mystery, which makes you wish it really were the first of a series about The Three Matildas, as the cover would lead you to believe. Actually it's a single-title mystery, though it looks like a lot of the Whitman picture-cover books. You'll love the city neighborhood, which is described in detail. 'Tilda's father runs the International Restaurant, and the first picture inside the book is the girl, sitting at a restaurant table doing her homework, with all the condiments and bentwood chairs in sight. A tiny dog plays a big part in this mystery, too. Well, you'll like this book a lot! HB, PC that wraps all around the back, too. Fairly good condition. $4.00 Music For Melanie (Helen Reynolds) 1958. Girl is concerned about competing in a piano contest, but her teacher thinks she needs to put more passion into her playing. She takes time out to help a relative in a time of trouble, and this leads to an experience that changes her life and her piano playing, as well as giving us a very exciting and beautiful story! HB, XL, library picture cover, sturdy condition, quite a few very good illustrations, too. $3.50 Zoa Sherburne wrote quite a few very readable and entertaining books about somewhat serious subjects. You will be very glad you discovered this author of books from the Maltshop era. I hope to have more books by Sherburne in future lists. Ski the Mountain (Helen Markley Miller) 1965. Fatherless family in the Sawtooth Range of mountains in Idaho. They live in a cabin in those mountains which can be a joy and also a challenge, facing danger (bears, the cold... ) and enjoying fun, like the Christmas celebrations. This was a very popular selection from the Young America Book Club. Nice hardcover with a picture cover, beautiful mountain scene, snowy peaks, pine trees, a figure on skis. HB, PC, $2.50 Girl of The Limberlost (Gene Stratton-Porter) This edition doesn't have the original date anywhere, but a good friend told me it is 1909 -- thanks! Here's a nice Dell Yearling book, quite thick, with a very pretty cover picture. The back cover says "it has been called one of the most popular American novels ever published." There's a very nice afterword by Patricia Reilly Giff, a very fine author of young adult novels herself. There's something of the Maltshop in this story, which is why I put it here (plus I didn't know quite where else to put it.) Girl goes to HS and finds herself to be very different from other girls, and an an object of ridicule. She has to earn money for books and clothes, which leads to her many forays into the forest and explorations of nature. Very lovely book. Appropriate for young teens through adults. Large PB,$2.00 By JANET LAMBERT *************** Even though most of the Lamberts are now available in reprints, some of us still want to hold the old, hardcover, "originals" in our hands and feel the nostalgia that they generate. I could make you laser copies of almost any Lambert DJs, for an extra $2.50. They make the older books look really nice! Star-Spangled Summer (Lambert) 1941. The very first Lambert, and of course the first in the Parrish/Jordan series. I wonder if Janet Lambert had the slightest idea of how popular her books would become, or if she dreamed that she would end up writing over 50 books! You'll have a good idea of how this happened, when you read this first story. PB, girl, boy and horses on the cover. $2.00 Another PB copy of Star-Spangled Summer, this one is a Tempo books edition, with a vintage-looking cover picture, girl in pink formal, white flower in her hair, boy in white tux with black bow-tie, and misty dancers and musicians in the background. Nice edition! PB. $3.00 Dreams of Glory (Lambert) 1942 Penny Parrish story -- takes place at West Point, so Penny and a whole lot more of Lambert's best characters can hang around together! Plenty of social life, Maltshop elements of course, continuation of many strands of the Lambert saga, and wonderful career and romance elements. PB with a very appropriate cover picture -- cadet in uniform, girl in a bouffant pink gown (only the also-bouffant hairdo is not 1942) with a beautiful background of presumably West Point. Very nice Tempo Books edition PB, $2.50 Treasure Trouble (Janet Lambert) 1949. This is the 2nd in a short, 2-book series by Lambert. The first, Where the Heart is, tells about the Drayton family, who had to live in a barn due to a housing shortage after WWII, and especially about Christy, who wins the heart of her crusty old cousin. In the current book, Christy and her neighbor/friend Roger, have to figure out the solution to a mystery, while the family is waiting and watching while an addition is built onto their new house. This construction plays a big part in the mystery, too. Christy is about my favorite Lambert character, a nice, cheery, smart, practical kid, who has no interest in the stage, the way so many of Lambert's characters do! She does love horses, but I'll forgive her for that. HB, "locket edition" in good condition, with a laser copy of the very attractive original dust jacket. Beautiful. $4.50 Boy Wanted (Janet Lambert) 1959. One of the best things about this book is its darling DJ picture. Hayride scene, happy and cute young people, one dog, one driver chewing on a piece of straw, and a few colorful fall leaves. This is a Ginger and Patty story, about 2 very different girls, one cheerful and friendly, the other selfish and unpleasant. This copy is in very good condition, a personal copy with a good DJ. $5.00 Forever and Ever (Janet Lambert) 1961. This is one of the beautiful Image Cascade paperback reprints. It's pristine, only read once very, very carefully by me, and then I was offered a hardcover copy of the book. It's hard for me to give up this lovely PB, but you have to draw the line somewhere. This is the 3rd book in the 6-book Campbell family series, about a family that lived for years on a Chinese junk. The children long for a permanent home, though they enjoy the adventures and family life on the boat. The books take all the family members through their childhood and teens, and into young adulthood. The cover of this one, shows a very happy couple sitting under a tree, the girl cuddling a cat. In case you don't know about Image Cascade books, let me tell you that they are very high quality reprints, as close to the originals as possible. PB, like new, $5.00 Whoa, Matilda (tweed "locket" cover) 1944 $ $4.00 (2 good copies!) This is the 2nd book in the Candy Kane series, Matilda is an old jalopy, and the story is mainly lightweight. But this is Janet Lambert, and WWII was still going strong, so you there are a lot of serious things going on, too. Whoa, Matilda! This is a personal copy, with its darling dust jacket (only a few worn spots on the DJ) which shows pretty Candy Kane, age 16 at the time of this story. I believe that this is the original format, and it advertises 5 other Janet Lambert books on the back cover. The interior has only one picture, of Matilda, a convertible, along with a few war bonds, and a piggy bank == surely symbolic of the money you have to shell out if you own a car, as Candy does in this very nice story. HB, DJ, $6.00 Summer for Seven (Lambert) 1952. This is a Dria Meredith story, 3rd in the 3-book series. Everything's set for an ideal and happy summer on the farm, but you know how it is in Lambert books -- all kinds of things happen. Her books are so realistic that you feel you're reading about friends who are having these things happen to them in real life. XL HB in fairly good condition, with a laser copy of the very attractive DJ. Shows a teen girl and young man, leaning on a fence, horse in the background (this is a good story for horse-lovers, but don't let that stop you if you aren't into horses, you'll love it anyway!) HB, LDJ, $5.00 High Hurdles (Lambert) 1955. Dria Meredith story. "Certainly a book for all girls who have enjoyed the former Lambert books, and particularly those girls who love horses and riding." This is from the front flap description. Hardcover, tweed locket edition in good condition, with a very good laser copy of the original DJ. $5.00 High Hurdles, as above, but with a library picture cover, all in fairly good condition. HB, XL, $2.50 Forever and Ever (Janet Lambert) 1961, Campbell family. I only discovered this series this year, and have really gotten a kick from reading about this family that spent many years living on a Chinese Junk (boat) traveling all over the ocean. Eventually they settle down, but the children are all a bit different from other teens who have lived in one place all their lives. Scholastic PB, good condition, $3.00 (2) For Each Other, scholastic paperback, 1959, another story about the Campbell family. Very good condition, $3. Another with the cover a bit worn, $2,50 Triple Trouble (Lambert) 1965. This is one of the Cinda books. Quote from the front flap "The moment Cinda heard... that their brother and Melody Ayer were planning to elope, she knew it wasn't going to be a dull summer after all." That's the first of the triple troubles that summer, and one of the 5 really nice Cinda Hollister books by Lambert. For me, she's one of the most appealing and realistic of Lambert's girls. HB, fair condition, reading copy, dressed up in a laser copy of the original DJ, showing a dazed-looking Cinda on a background of teen scenes, a presumably eloping couple, guitar-playing young man, etc. HB, XL, with LDJ, $3.75 END of books by Lambert +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Betty Baxter (assumed to be the same writer as Betty Baxter Anderson) wrote quite a few excellent career-romances, mysteries, and nurse novels in the '30. They all feature girls, many of them in what have been traditionally male positions. I seriously doubt if you'd be disappointed in any of her books! Daughter of the Coast Guard (Betty Baxter) 1938. One of the girls is the daughter of a Coast Guardsman, the other girl's father is a newsman -- so they certainly do have plenty of scope for adventure! Like all of Baxter's stories, this one shows girls being brave, intelligent, and a bit reckless! Lots of fun. HB, fair condition, $2.50 Hi There, High School! ("Gay Head", the name used by the advice columnist in the Scholastic Magazines.) 1953. How to Make a Success of your Teen Years, the cover says. 1950s-era advice on all kids of teen situations, all illustrated by cute pictures. PB, $1.50 High Trail (Vivian Breck) 1948. Breck wrote very good books about the outdoors, for girls who may or may not ever climb a mountain or go white-water boating, but who sort of think maybe they would like it if they ever tried it. Girl is hiking and camping with her father in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas, when her father is injured. She has to find her own way out of the forest and get help. And would you believe that she found romance in these trying circumstances? Of course you would -- you are a Maltshop fan, aren't you? HB, personal copy, very good cond, with a dramatic DJ also in good cond. HB, DJ, $5.00 White Water (Vivian Breck) 1965. An accident had left her leg much too weak for sports, but the girl is determined to take her boat on a white-water trip down a canyon in Colorado. Of course there is plenty of adventure, and a nice romance to spice things up. Very good HB personal copy (Best Loved Girls' Books) with a beautiful DJ. $5.00 Nancy Herself (Erik Berry) 1938. Nancy goes to art school, and has a whale of a good time, including turning detective and a whole lot of other adventures. Erik Berry's books are from just 2 or 3 years earlier than the first Maltshop books (Cavanna, for instance) and you really can't draw the line between the late 30s and the early to mid 40s, when it comes to enjoyable books for teenaged girls. This is a nice hardcover book, with a darling DJ -- showing Nancy in the middle of one of her artistic adventures. The back of the DJ has a wonderful long list of Goldsmith Book for Girls, all of which I've read and loved. You can use it as a guide to help you find the kinds of books that you really like. The authors are listed, but it might help you to know that many of them are really Mildred Wirt! HB with DJ, $5.00 It Could Happen to Anyone (Margaret Maze Craig) 1961. Yes, that's the "It" they are talking about. Nice girl is shocked to find out that her good friend is pregnant, and of course at that time the girl has to leave school. But there's a lot more to this book than that. Margaret Maze Craig was hugely popular when I was a teen. Though she didn't write nearly as many books as some of the Maltshop authors, her books are absolutely wonderful Maltshop type books, and this one full of all the best of maltshop elements. I certainly recommend it, and any other Craig books that you might come across! They are almost impossible to find in hardcover, but the Berkley Highland paperbacks are excellent -- with very good cover pictures. $3.00 You will really like books by Nancy Hartwell, who wrote a lot of young adult books in the 1950s and 1960s. All of them wonderful stories, and quite akin to career-romances. I'll certainly try to offer more of Hartwell's books in future lists. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BOB AND/OR JAN YOUNG, a husband/wife team, wrote wonderful Maltshops. Each book is different from the other, various settings, various problems to be faced, but these writers really know how to grip the reader. Try any or all and you'll be glad (that's not advertising, I just like to introduce Maltshop readers to the best books in the genre!) Janet Randall is the same as Jan Young I'll try to include books by the Youngs in my next list. they seem to be popular! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Marty (Elisa Bialk) 1953. Marty wants to be a newspaper reporter, but has a lot to learn! This is the first in a short series about Marty. As in many books about reporters (think: Beverly Gray!) this one includes setbacks AND a mystery. Scholastic PB in moderately good condition. $2.00 Marty on the Campus (Bialk) 3rd in the 3-book series about Marty. After all her wonderful adventures as a cub reporter with amazingly good luck, she goes back to college to study journalism. PB in fair condition $1.50 Look to the Mountains (Beth Jacobs) 1963. Unusual book, not really a maltshop, but the kids are the right age and it was written in the right time period. Very poor farmer's daughter wants a college education and wants to get her family off the farm. They move from Colorado to Oregon, and boyfriend's family moves at the same time. Many troubles and misunderstandings. Light romance, growing-up, country setting, outdoorsy story. The cover is a library picture cover, and makes the girl look as if she's a love-sick idiot, but she certainly isn't anything like that. I liked the story very much! XL, PC, worn but firm. $3 The Bells of Freedom (Dorothy Gilman Butters) 1774 Boston setting. Boy apprentice is having a terrible time, when he's rescued by a stranger who buys out his term, and gives him the job of a lifetime, in his printing shop. Boy has enough to eat for the first time, and would do anything for his master. As you may guess, he's put to the test. Lovely book by such a talented author. HB Young America Book Club edition. PC. $3.00 Ten Leagues to Boston Town (Butters) Girl and her brother have to try to get to Boston to join their parents. What a lot of adventures they have in such a short distance! And will she find love, now that she's all of 16 years old and her mother thinks she's old enough to get married? I don't know exactly what year this takes place, but it was very early in this country's history. HB, library printed PC, $2.50 Nice copy of Ten Leagues to Boston Town (Butters) with a good DJ. $3.00 Rich Boy, Poor Boy (Theodora Du Bois) 1961. This is one of those books that are hard to categorize, is it a very good Maltshop, or a suspenseful mystery? Girl makes friends with a presumably "poor relation" who lives with his cousins and isn't treated very nicely. It gets worse when something is stolen, and he's suspected of the theft. So the girl does her best to help figure out who really did the dark deed, and all the other mysteries that are floating around. Lots of fun, a terrific ending, and all those details that we love -- including clothes, food, and a bit of skin diving. This copy has a picture cover, rather than DJ. XL HB in good condition. $3.00 For Girls Only (edited by Sylvie Shuman) short stories, mostly from the 1950s, first published in magazines like Seventeen and Co-Ed. Nice maltshoppy titles like Sweet Mystery, and The Class Ring. I re-read these stories every few years -- they make me feel so nostalgic, as if I just got my latest issue of "Seventeen" in the mail, and took a break from studying for my Latin test, to read about LOVE,E-mail us
LOVE, LOVE, instead of Julius Caesar! Nice little Scholastic paperback, in good condition, $2.00 (2) Bittersweet: Stories and Poems from Scholastic Writing Awards. The many stories and poems in this book are arranged by decades -- from the 20s through the 50s. These were written by students (schools and teachers are listed, too.) Very nice book, and makes you want to check and see if any of these promising authors did end up as writers. Scholastic PB, $1.75 Megan (Iris Noble) 1965. I'm including this in the Maltshop section of the list, because of the publication date, the fact that it's a Scholastic book, that it's about an teenaged girl, and that it will appeal to the same people who love maltshop books. However, it's set in 1902, and is about an orphan girl who travels from her native Wales, to western Canada to work and live on a ranch, and finds more love than she'd ever known before. Scholastic PB, very good condition, $2.00 Big Doc's Girl (subtitled "The Famous story of a Country Doctor's Daughter") 1942, by Mary Medearis. Foreward by Maureen Daly, explaining that this was originally a book for adults, but has become popular with younger readers in a new edition. Arkansas setting. HB copy of Big Doc's Girl (Mary Medearis) Small-town doctor's daughter, her romantic life, her family. On the back cover, many of our favorite Maltshops are advertised, so if you like duJardin as well as 2 of my favorite Maine authors, Rich and Simpson, you'll probably like this one, too! HB, XL with pretty DJ. $3.50 Seventeenth Summer (Maureen Daly) 1952. All about the summer after HS graduation, and the girl's first love, or whatever it was -- even she wasn't sure! A misty, beautiful story, really sweet and dreamy. I wonder if most of the other Maltshop books were trying to emulate this early one? PB, $2.00 _++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Anne Emery is one of the Big Three of Maltshop writing, and some of us think she was the best! Mountain Laurel (Emery) 1948. Girl from the Smoky Mountains, is accepted to nursing school, but can't go due to her mother's sudden death: she has to stay home and keep house for a big family. She learns to appreciate the mountain arts and crafts, and some new friends show her a way to achieve her goals. A romantic but very realistic story. I'm pretty sure that you'll LOVE this Anne Emery book, even though it's not really a Maltshop book! PB $3.00 Going Steady (Anne Emery) 1950. It was one of the hot-button issues of that decade, should high schoolers go steady? If they could have foreseen the chaos of the next generation, they might not have been so concerned, but they couldn't. And here is the very best story of a very close relationship that has all the emotions that go with early teen romances. I read all of this series to Dave a few years ago, and it evoked a lot of memories, and great deal of enjoyment. Going Steady hardcover, with the intriguing dust jacket design -- in front there is a young couple (all dressed up!) above that, there are 3 small areas, each one showing the couple on some kind of date. They play tennis, spin a few platters, and best of all, they sip sodas at the Maltshop. It's a clever cover, and you will love reading about Sally and Scotty, during the summer when they are Going Steady. HB, laser copy of the original dust jacket, making up a very attractive pair. $4.50 Going Steady, PB with vintage cover, very good condition, $2.00 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Books by Grace May North -- She wrote at least 2 series in the '20s. Here'e one of her non-series books that would have been a fine additions to any series! Well constructed coherent plot, with interesting characters and attractive settings. I'll try to add more of North's books very soon. Nan of the Gypsies (Grace May North) 1926. Nan is happy being a gypsy, but a good lady decides to "civilize" her. It's very interesting to read about whether and/or how this succeeds. This book must have been very popular, as I've run across several editions of it. This one is one of those attractive, large Saalfield YA editions, brown cover with nice no-nonsense black letters in the title. The pages have turned brown with age, but they aren't brittle, and are firmly set in the binding. $3.00 Nan of the Gypsies (North) with a lovely dust jacket picture (the DJ has a few holes, but the front is 99% intact.) $4.00 Champlain Summer (Marjorie Vetter) 1959. a quote from the DJ flap "Kit's Champlain summer had brought her her first romantic interest in boys, her first compassionate interest in people outside her family circle, and her first appreciation of the heritage that he come down to her country ..." This sounds heavy and serious, but of course the DJ flap was written to appeal to teachers and librarians! For teens, this book has romance, summer cottage fun, growing up -- many elements of a really a good Maltshop! Champlain Summer with a very good DJ, $5.00 "Minnow" Vail (Winifred E. Wise) 1962. She's called Minnow because she's nearly as much at home in the water as on land. She is dying to be one of the Mermaids in the annual town Carnival, but people still think of her as a cute little kid. She's cute, for sure, as you'll notice on the darling cover picture (Minnow posing for her portait as a mermaid! She looks like a Gidget type.) There are all the Maltshop elements, growing up, dating different boys and realizing which one is worthwhile, school, family, plenty of teen activity and humor. A very popular maltshop! HB, good condition, with a pretty PC, $4.00 Books by Marjory Hall, one of the very, very best Maltshop authors (or would you call her a Career-Romance author?) Her books are all different, but similar in that they deal with a girl who has a lot to learn before she can be thought of as mature, and who is exploring options for her future, in both career and romance. Hall also wrote historical novels for young adults, and these are good reading, too. She also wrote under the name of Carol Morse. I will add more Marjory Hall books when I get them. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When I was a teen, I read all the Amelia Elizabeth Walden books that I could get my hands on. She was still writing when I left my teen reading years, but I've renewed my friendship with her books since then. She wrote beautifully, about girls in sports, the theater, and school and home life -- as well as quite a few very engrossing mysteries! Recommended Maltshop writing. Basketball Girl of the Year (Walden) 1970. When Walden wrote this, she remarked in the foreward, that girls' basketball was expanding and changing. I don't know if she's still around to appreciate how true this was! She also mentiones that she's been a coach, spectator, and sister to a sports reporter, as well as spending a basketball season with a high school team in the year when she wrote this novel. HB, XL, PC, good condition, $3.50 The Spy Who Talked too Much (Walden) 1968. Walden wrote a lot of spy stories, this one indicates that it's appropriate and of interest for ages 12-15. She writes about girls who are very energetic and smart, and go through a whole lot before she can solve her problems, and relax with her new-found love. Engrossing stories. DJ description says "Don't begin this exciting story until you have several hours of leisure ahead -- you won't be able to put it down!" Of course that's something of an ad, but Walden's writing does keep you entranced. HB, XL, very nice DJ, $3.00 My Sister Mike (Walden) 1956 PB $1 Girl with a boy's name is much more interest in sports than in romance. But she learns that there are lots of interesting things in this life! Three Loves Has Sandy (Walden) 1955. I've just finished reading another book by Walden, and renewed my amazement at her writing -- she knows how to write about teen girls, animals, older people with lots of character (rather than the colorless adults that most authors describe in teen books) and of course, the course of true love, which never does run true! Sandy loves softball! Wyoming Bill loves horses. When they get together, each one teaches the other a lot! Horses, sports, and BOYS. a good paperback copy, $2 Three Loves has Sandy PB. cute vintage Scholastic book. $2.00 Go, Phillips, Go (Amelia E Walden) 1974. Another of those wonderful Walden sports stories about a girl with a boy's name, Pete. She has 7 brothers, and knows how to play basketball -- but something is going wrong this year. Sports, family, romance (of course) and as always, a well-written story. PB, Scholastic, $2.00 ++++++End of books by Walden ++++++++++ Saturday Night (Marjorie Holmes) 1959. From the back cover: "Donny Keller ... has turned from Carly to his next love. All Carly's friends, her family, everyone who knows Donny have been expecting this. Only Carly has hoped for the impossible." From the back cover of the other edition: "A Tender, understanding novel about a girl whose first love was for the wrong boy." One of the classics, very touching story, personal copy HB with a lovely DJ. $5.00 Saturday Night (Holmes) poor condition, but still good reading, free with a hardcover Maltshop. Christy (Carole Bolton)1960. A very-sweet-16 love story. She's in love with an older man, (I guess you might call it a crush) and for a while she throws away all her old life and enjoyments. Haven't we all been there at one point? DJ, a little fringy but the front cover is all there and darling! $4 Christy (Bolton) paperback edition, with a very cute cover picture (Tempo book ed.) $2 The American Girl Library is SO good, and SO popular! They rarely stick around on my sale list for more than a day. This series includes short stories originally published in American Girl Magazine in the prime Maltshop years, some from other magazines of those same years, and also several books of advice and other subjects of interest to the teen girl from the 50's (and to us, of course!) They're good-looking books, too. American Girl book of Sports Stories (American Girl Library)10 stories from American Girl Magazine between 1949 and 1965. As you can imagine, there are other interesting themes to all these stories, as well as the sports slant. The stories (as in all the American Girl library books) have a Maltshoppy feeling. Large PB, $2.00 (2) American Girl Book of Horse Stories (American Girl Library) Selected by the editors of American Girl Magazine, and illustrated by famed horse artist, Sam Savitt. These 10 stories first appeared between 1946 and 1963. You've probably heard of some of the authors, including the most well-known, Janet Lambert. Nice large HB with a happy, horse-riding girl on the cover. $4.00 Denise Cass Brookman wrote several very romantic Maltshop books. I think if she'd written quite a few more, she could be one of the most well-known and best-loved of Maltshop authors. I'll try to have more Brookman books very soon. Have you discovered Elisabeth Friermood? She may have written one book that you could honestly call a Maltshop, but all her books appeal to the same people that love the MS books. Historical settings, mostly within a couple of decades of the turn of the last century, her books all feature plucky girls who either fight for the right to have careers, or just plain work at them. I love several of them very much, especially One of Fred's Girls, which I don't have for sale at this time. But all of them are engrossing, never heavy, full of interesting details and fun. If they took place in mid-20th century, they would be called Maltshops or Career-romances! Circus Sequins (Friermood) 1968. Set in 1914, girl travels with a circus, as the wardrobe assistant, but she wants to perform!!!! of course there is romance -- aren't all circuses romantic? Beautiful copy of this book, though it's from a library. Nice picture cover over a very good DJ. $3.50 Focus the Bright Land (Friermood) Girl is sure that women can be photographers, though her father and brothers scoff at her. She brings new ideas to their business when she is allowed to go on a summer photographing tour with them about 1885. HB, PC, in nice cond. $4.00 BARBARA CLAYTON is another of the best Maltshop authors! Maybe I'm prejudiced because she often sets her books in Maine or Massachusetts, but I really do like them a lot in any case. I'll try to have more Barbara Clayton books very soon! Second Best (Clayton) 1963. Girl (from Massachusetts) is the middle child, with all that it implies. When her family goes to Maine for the summer, she figures she'll have a chance at a new life. Does it happen? Does she realize that she's a pretty good kid herself? Sailing lessons help, and a good mystery finishes the job. This book takes place really, really near where we live -- look up Penobscot Bay on your Maine map. HB, fairly good condition, really pretty picture on the DJ. I've always felt that the girl wouldn't take 2nd prize in any beauty contest: she's first prize material if she could realize it. $4.00 Peppermint: The best from Scholastic Writing Awards, Junior Division (1951-1966) Many short stories, poems, articles, prize-winners by young people. Even the cover picture is an award-winning photo. Nice little Scholastic PB, in fine condition. $2.00 Pretty Penny Farm (Joanne Hopper) 1987 Not a maltshop, wrong year! But horses, romance, friends, etc. New Hampshire setting. PB $2 TRY A MALTSHOP FOR A DOLLAR! ALL PAPERBACK, ALL IN ONLY "READING COPY" CONDITION, BUT NEVERTHELESS GOOD READING! Sister of the Bride (Beverly Cleary) 1962. PB $1 Going Steady (Anne emery) 1950. Sally and Scotty are going steady, what a wonderful summer! PB $1 Marty (Elisa Bialk) 1953. Teen with a job, trying, failing, and trying again! PB $1 Junior Miss (Sally Benson) 1941. This is a really cute one! Even the cover looks adorable, shy girl in a fluffy pink formal. $1.00 Jean and Johnny (Beverly Cleary) 1959. Cleary did Maltshops even better than she did "Ramona!" PB $1 (2) To Tell Your Love (Mary Stolz) 1050. From back cover "Three faces of love, and hope, and heartbreak, by a favorite girls' author." Very romantic cover picture! Scholastic PB, I truly loved this book when I was a teenager. Extremely lovely story, about a nice family, a sweet girl, and a sad but very romantic love story. PB $1.00 (2) Jeannette Eyerly, who died this year (if you get Whispered Watchword, you probably read my short eulogy to her.)She was know for bridging the difference between the Maltshop era and the much more modern, graphic depiction of true tragedies that are typical of teen books from the period following the Maltshops. I have read her books, they are well written and keep your attention. They're just not as comfy as earlier books for teen girls. When died at 100, and there were many complimentary articles about her role as go-between in teen literature. Enough Maltshop elements to make us happy, enough newer elements for those of you who grew up in the '60s and '70s. I'll have more Eyerly books in the future! Escape from Nowhere (Eyerly) 1969. She comes from a rich family, but they are what we soon started calling "dysfunctional" and the girl doesn't function too well herself, in the face of it all. She goes through a lot before she turns her life around. Berkley Highland PB, $1.25 The Girl Inside (Eyerly) 1968. The things that happen to this girl are truly tragic, and she has a lot of trouble finding enough courage to go on. Nice Berkley Highland pb, with the plaid patch at the top of the spine (these are usually really good teenage books.) $1.50 Practically Seventeen (duJardin) Tobey Hayden series. 1943+ Fair condition, but readable -- in fact, many people, including myself, recommend this series highly!!! PB $1 I'll try to have more "Try a Maltshop for a dollar" soon! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEENS' and CHILDREN'S MYSTERIES Many Excellent Young Adult Mysteries!!!!******** If you have been reading Richard ZainEldeen's articles in The Whispered Watchword for the past few years, you will know about a lot of these old children's mysteries. I love this genre. A lot of them are similar to "maltshops" in that they deal with young people's personalities as well as the actual mysterious happenings. Most of them have a strong sense of setting, interesting locales or situations. ALSO CHECK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE "MALTSHOP BOOKS" SECTION FOR A LIST OF GIRLS' MYSTERY-NOVEL-ROMANCES AND OTHER GOOD MYSTERIES THAT I'VE ADDED THIS SEASON!!!! Mystery of the Haunted Mine (Gordon Shirreffs) 1962. Chapters -- The Lure of the Lost Espectro Mine, Stranger in the Dawn, Clues to the Treasure Trail, Trapped -- and so forth! It's mostly about 2 boys, but there's a girl who certainly plays an important role in the book! The cover of this PB is especially exciting -- 3 kids in a cave with a skeleton! PB, fair condition, $1.00 The Drugged Cornet and other mystery Stories (chosen by Susan Dickinson)1972. A very good book to introduce readers, young or not so young, to great names in mystery writing like Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, Ngaio Marsh, etc. There are 15 short (but not too short) stories in this book, all appropriate for teen readers, though many of them were originally written for adult readers. You'll like the title story, which is about a teen boy whose sister has a big crush on a jazz cornet player who has a few secrets! HB, XL, PC, good condition, $2.50 Mystery at Old Sturbridge Village (Julia C. Mahon) 1964. This is about a girl who is very disappointed when her vacation plans are upset -- sound familiar? She has to spend the summer in a little New England town and hates the idea (which really hurts my feelings!) But she finds out that nearby Old Sturbridge Village is more than dry history, and even (for her) holds an old mystery to be solved. While reading a good mystery set in modern Massachusetts, you'll learn a lot about life in Old Massachusetts. Hardcover book looks pretty much brand new, with a nice dust jacket. There are both photos and sketches to illustrate the story. $3.00 The Perrely Plight, A Mystery at Sturbridge (Peter John Stephens) 1965. The previous book is about Sturbridge today, while this one is about Sturbridge in the old days. Kids in 1836 were apparently as interested in solving mysteries as today's kids, and there was plenty of mystery in Sturbridge back then. Missing money, a burned barn, and a mysterious house! Excellent illustrations help you to understand life in that era. HB, XL, nice DJ, $2.50 The Mystery of Edison Brown (Elizabeth Rider Montgomery) 1960. I just read this one last night, and it was very unusual but fascinating! 2 kids live with their grandfather and 2 helpers, on one of the San Juan Islands off Washington state. They have never met any other people, and don't know about electricity (despite the boy's first name) or cars, running water, engines, packaged foods. They finally do learn a bit about the modern world, and that opens the floodgates -- plus making them very curious about what on earth their grandfather is hiding from. Written for about late grade- school level, not in the least bit too young to be very entertaining for me, that's for sure! It's one more book that kept me up until the small hours of the night to finish it. HB, XL but no exterior library markings except on the bottom of the page block. Good condition with an interesting picture cover. $3.00 The Grist Mill Secret (Lillie V. Albrecht) 1962. Set in New England just before the Revolution, about a girl and boy who have to do dangerous things to help the Minute Men and the cause of freedom. But the danger and adventure are only a part of this good book -- there are good times (giving a play, going to a quilting bee, for 2 examples) and the fun of school, and a romantic husking party! As the back of the book notes, this is one of those books that make history easy to remember. XL HB, in very nice condition, with a very good DJ. $2.50 (2) Mystery of the Lobster Thieves (Elaine Macmann Willoughby) 1978. this is a Weekly Reader Children's Book Club edition, written for pre-teens. Nice hardcover copy, with a creepy cover picture of 2 children in a boat, just off the shore of a place that looks like all the lobster villages on the coast of Maine. However, this one takes place a little south of here, on the NH coast. Family moves to a little house on an island, where they have a great time until the lobster thefts start up and the children decide to solve the mystery. HB, PC, $2.00 Secret of Deer Mountain (E. H. Lansing who is Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing.) 1953. 2 boys are building a hut in the woods (didn't you love to do that, when you were a kid??) when they hear a shot, and find a dead fawn. The good-for-nothing lazy game warden isn't about to do anything about the poachers, so the boys decide to figure out who is killing the deer and making it dangerous to play in the woods. The boys can't always sneak away from the little sister of one of them, and guess what? Of course she is a big help in their solution of the mystery! That's why I checked to see if I could discover whether EL was a man or woman, and the answer was on the title page. PB, fair condition Scholastic, $1.50 Mystery of the Spanish Cave (Geoffrey Household) 1936. A Scholastic PB reprint. Boy is out fishing when he finds a human skull near the cave, where even the best of fishermen avoid sailing. There's a girl in this story, but it's really a boy's sort of tale, with lots of adventure, danger and political intrigue! PB, $1.00 Three Stuffed Owls (Keith Robertson) 1954. The Carson Street Detective Agency start out to try to find a stolen bicycle, but that was just the beginning! This is a humorous story, but and actually the 2nd in a series about these young people, who "recently" solved the mystery of Burnt Hill. XL HB in good condition, with a very good DJ. $2.50 Mystery at Redtop Hill (Marjory Schwalje)1965. 3 kids decide they should figure out what's bothering their great friend, Major Clyde. He's morose, and not enjoying his young friends, plus getting visits from a sinister stranger! The Charles Geer pictures (and there are a lot of them!) are a lot of fun, including the map endpapers, something I always find very helpful. Very nice picture cover, whilch wraps around the back, too. HB, good condition, $2.50 Mystery of the Island Fires (Elaine Macmann Willoughby) 1991. A Weekly Reader Book Club hardcover. Takes place on an island off the NH shore. The kids are excited about getting back to their cottage, but their mother is also about to start an antique shop. Over everything, the unexplained fires that keep cropping up. Short but interesting mystery, HB, PC, $2.00 The Fireball Mystery (Mary Adrian) 1977. Adrian wrote a whole lot of YA mysteries, many with a scientific background, like this one about kids searching for a meteorite that they saw, falling from the sky. Weekly Reader Book Club HB with PC. $2.00 Two HB mysteries by Hal G. Evarts. Popular books for boys, good condition for former library books. The titles are "The Secret of the Himalayas" (1962) with a picture cover, and "The Pegleg Mystery" (1972) with a dust jacket. 'Fine, fast-paced adventure" according to the description inside the books. 2 mysteries -- $4.50 for both of them. Mystery of the Missing Stamps (Margaret Goff Clark) 1967. You can tell from the front cover of this book, that it's about a girl a well as a couple of boys. Lots of information about stamp collecting, Stamps provide a fertile ground for YA mysteries, almost as valuable as jewels or hard cash. Plenty of danger and adventure in this story, which is a Weekly Reader Book Club edition with a nice picture cover. $3.00 The Eisenbart Mystery (Roger Pilkington) 1963. Mainly for boys, but of course anyone can read it. Boy and family escape from East Germany, after a hard life including other escapes. Complicated plot, lots of adventures and new friendships. HB, XL, $2.00 Mystery Mountain (Florence Laughlin) 1964. Arizona setting. Both girl and boy characters. 2 boys, strangers, look like twins. Lost gold mines, trail rides into the desert, research into the past. HB, exciting PC, nice condition from Young America Book Club. $3.00 The Robber Ghost (Anckarsvard) 1955. illustrated by Paul Galdone. Honor book, 1961 NY Herald Tribune Children's Book Festival. Features the same characters as in The Mysterious Schoolmaster (both girls and boys.) Large amount of money is stolen, at the same time as a strange ghostly figure is seen, and a new (unpleasant) boy comes to the school. Could these things be connected? Kids decide to investigate! HB, XL, picture cover, sturdy book with a few of the usual library marks, some good internal illustrations. You'll love the chapter on the Dog Contest. I think the translations (from Swedish) are very, very well done. PB, good condition, $2.00 Young Readers' Mystery Stories (Charles Coombs) 1951. Illustrated by Charles Geer -- you will recognize his style! There are 6 short mysteries in this book. I'll have to admit that they are mostly about boys, but I had fun with them, too. About 5-6 grade level reading. I don't know if the endpapers have anything to do with the book, I think they are the same for all the books in this series (Young Reader's Horse, Cowboy, etc, stories) These illustrations are very attractive, and feature a girl and a boy running through the woods, which leads me to think that these stories are supposed to be for girls, too. My theory is that they feature boys because girls are happy to read stories about boys, but boys are too prejudiced to read stories about girls! Just my theory .... HB, cover has some folds, but on the whole, a sturdy book. $2.00 Mysteries by Ruth Chew -- (my kids loved these magical mysteries, early grade level) Ruth Chew illustrated her own books, and I can't decide whether she's a better author or artist. Her pictures are warm and fuzzy, adorable, a little creepy! Like her books. Most of these books are in very good condition. Trapped in Time (Chew) PB in fairly good condition, $1.25 The Hidden Cave (Chew) Pb in fair condition, $1.25 Magic of the Black Mirror (Chew) PB in very good cond. $1.75 No Such thing as a Witch (Chew) PB in good condition. $1.75 Witch in the House PB. good cond $2. Do-it-yourself Magic, (Ruth Chew) HB with DJ, very good former library copy. $2.00 Summer Magic (Chew) $1.75 PB in good condition The Wishing Tree (Chew) 1980. PB, $1.75 The Secret Treehouse (Chew) 1974. PB in fairly good condition, $1.25 Mystery of the Piper's Ghost (Zillah K. MacDonald) 1954. Yes, this author wrote some good career-romances, too, but this one is a very good mystery. Takes place in Nova Scotia, involves a mysterious bag-piper, who rises out of the water of the lake! Two boys don't believe in ghosts -- they suspect this spector has something to do with the possible opening of a gold mine. Good condition PB, $1.50 Mystery of the Bewitched Bookmobile (Florence Parry Heide and Roxanne Heide) 1975. A Spotlight Club mystery (there are quite a few others in the series.) An interesting note -- one of the pre-text pages says "Look at the cover of this book through a piece of red glass, cellophane or red film, and you will find a secret message!" All that on top of a fascinating subject -- a book mobile! I couldn't find any red glass, so if you can find the secret message, please tell me what it is! HB, XL, picture cover, all in good condition. $3.00 I've read every one of the Three Investigators books, which is very, very unusual since I hardly ever read books that are solely about boys. These are mild, always interesting, realistically about boys who have to do chores around the house --oops, I mean around the Junk Yard that Jupitor's uncle and aunt operate. You'll love their secret hideout, and the wonderful car/driver that they won by solving a particularly evil case. And the comments from Alfred HItchcock in the earlier volumes of the series. I'll try to have more books about the Three Investigators next time! Mystery of the Headless Horse (#26) tall PB, moderate cond, $2.00 Mystery of the Invisible Dog (you've never seen such a fierce-looking dog as the one on the cover. Is it really a wolf?) Tall PB, pretty good cond, $2.00 The Mystery of the Moaning Cave (3 investigators #10) Deluxe edition, but not really in deluxe condition! XL with PC. Very sturdy but there are a few scratches on the cover. HB, XL, PC, $3.00 The Mystery of the Moaning Cave (#10) large PB in very good condition. $2.75 Mystery of the Silver Spider -- It's really a jewel, but a very important one, and it's been stolen! Three Investigators to the rescue! small PB, $1.75 The Mystery of Monster Mountain (3 -Invest. #20) Large paperback with very exciting picture cover. $2.50 Monster Mountain in smaller PB, $1.75 Mystery of the Screaming Clock (no number) small PB in good cond, $2.50 Mystery of the talking Skull (no number listed) Small PB with a cover that looks to me, similar to the original hardcover. Fairly good cond. $2.00 Mystery of the Flaming Footprints (no number listed) Small PB in good condition, $2.25 Mystery of the Shrinking House (3 investigators) small PB, good cond. $2.00 3 Investigators Crimebusters #4 Funny Business small PB, $1.25 ***************************** End of Three Investigator Books The Ghost in the Noonday Sun (Sid Fleischman) 1965. This is more of an adventure story than an actual mystery, but I didn't know where else to put it. If you read it as a kid, you'll love to relive this incredible tale of pirates and other villians, and the boy who outfoxed them all! HB, XL, PC, good cond. $2.00 Mysteries by Phyllis A. Whitney always involve a girl who goes to a very interesting, unusual setting, finds a mystery, and meets a boy. Together they solve the mystery! These aren't romances, but stories of close friendship. These stories are very nice, very friendly and readable. Try one of them, and I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to read more of them right away. I;ll try to have more of them in the near future! Mystery of the Crimson Ghost (Whitney) The girl starts right out telling you that she has a bad case of Horse Fever! She wants to ride the horse next door, but first she has to solve the mystery of the strange noises and lights. Lovely ending. $2.00 Mystery of the Green Cat (Whitney) 1957. San Francisco setting, girl's mother marries a man with 2 sons, one of whom is totally unfriendly, but the other one helps the girl solve an interesting mystery about the people in the Victorian house next door. Good PB, $2.50 Mystery of the Hidden Hand (Whitney)1963. 2 U.S. kids go to Greece to their uncle's hotel, and have to solve a mystery that's endangering the business. good PB, $2.00 Mystery of the Strange Traveler (Whitney)1951. Staten Island setting. This book is rather worn, but you'll really like the subject -- a girl stays with her aunt, who is setting up a book store. They become friends with a famous author, who seems to be a thinly disguised Whitney herself! PB, fair condition, $1.25 Secret of the Spotted Shell (Whitney) 1967. St Thomas island setting. This is an interesting story dealing with a relative who is MIA from Viet Nam, a code, a rare shell. PB, fairly good condition, $1.75 If you haven't tried St. John's mysteries, give them a try! Set in various locations in the south, most are aimed at about 8-10 graders, very well written, a bit of the Maltshop appeal to them, though the dates are a little too late. By the way, I had wondered whether Wylly was a female or male name -- just read a short bio of the author, and she's a "she." I'll try to list some more Wylly Folk St. John mysteries in my next sale! Christmas Tree Mystery (St. John) 1969. Girl accuses a boy of theft, then has to prove that he really didn't do it! Very unusual story, like other of St. John's books, full of family, a little psychology, and fascination. Excellent cond PB, $2.00 The Case of the Murdered Players (Robert Newman) 1985. British, with a Christmas-time setting. If you like this one, Newman wrote a slew of good mysteries for both boys and girls. Stars Andrew and Sara, plus Scotland Yard! HB, XL, DJ, all in good condition. $2.00 The Case of the Indian Curse (Robert Newman) 1986. Another British mystery about Andrew and Sara, this one centers around an antique and curio dealer who is terrified about something. The duo helps Scotland yard again. HB, XL, DJ, all in good condition. $2.00 MYSTERIES ABOUT JED, LIZA AND BILL, WRITTEN BY PEGGY PARISH. Peggy Parish wrote the Amelia Bedelia books, but she's more than a humorous writer about a maid who takes everything literally! This nice mystery series is about 3 children and various mysteries they solve while spending the summers at their grandparents' summer home on an island Some of the mysteries that they solve had puzzled their own father and his siblings when they were kids in the same area. Beautiful Paul Frame illustrations (he did the art for some of the Trixie books!) Key to the Treasure (Peggy Parish)1966. first the series. A nice hardback, with picture cover by Paul Frame -- $3 Key to the Treasure (Parish) XL HB with a very nice DJ. $3.00 Clues in the Woods (Peggy Parish) 1968. Paul Frame illustrations. In August, the kids are getting a little bored, after solving the original mystery. First they pick out a puppy for their grandparents (or for themselves?) and then they find another mystery to solve before they have to go home at the end of the summer. HB, XL, PC, $2.00 Haunted House (peggy Parish) 1971. Isn't this the perfect title for a mystery books for young readers! The 3 kids move into a new house, which is obviously the perfect place for frightening events! PB, some creases on the cover. $1.75 Pirate Island Adventure (Parish) 1975. Paul Frame illustrations. This summer, Liza, Bill and Jed are going with their grandparents, to Pirate Island! When they get there, Grampa gies them a clue to an old mystery, and they have to go all over the island to solve it. South Carolina setting. PB, good condition, $1.75 ------------------------------------------ Mystery of the Haunted Hut (Mary Graham Bonner) 1950. Scholastic Children spend the winter vacation in the small town where they usually go for the summer, where they find crime and mystery. Good for boys and girls, as both figure in the story. Also good for adults, at least me! I have always liked this vintage book! $1 (3) The Secret Raft (Hazel Krantz) Both boys and girls rafting and camping to solve a mystery on the water. Spies, etc. 1965. Aimed at about junior high reader, but I enjoyed it, too! Very good cond. PC $3 Mystery of the Red Tide (Frank Bonham) California shore setting. Someone is trying to make trouble for Uncle Mike, a marine biologist. Can the kids figure out this mystery and help their beloved relative? Caves, interesting marine life, a couple of teen boys who might or might not be the trouble-makers -- or possibly just interested in what's going on. Lots of fun, featuring very smart boys and an even smarter (of course!) girl, 1966 XL DJ $2 Paperback copy of Mystery of the Red Tide in good condition -- $1.25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TEENS' AND CHILDREN'S NONFICTION FIRST, HERE'S A SELECTION OF BOOKS ABOUT AUTHORS, MAINLY AUTHORS WHO WROTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. THESE ARE ALL HARDCOVERS, FORMERLY LIBRARY COPIES, AND ALL IN GOOD CONDITION. THESE BOOKS WERE WRITTEN FOR YOUNG READERS, PERHAPS JUNIOR HIGH OR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL. THEY COST $2.00 EACH We Dickinsons: The Life of Emily Dickinson, as seen through the eyes of her brother, Austin (Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe) 1965. Like the book on the Alcotts, this one is ficionalized, but there's a long bibliography to show that most of what the book contains is factual. HB, PC, XL good cond. $2.00 Anne M. Martin, The Story of the author of The Baby-Sitters Club (Margot Becker R. with Ann M. Martin 1993.) Even if you aren't a fan of the Baby-Sitters Club, this book will be interesting, as it gives a glimpse into the life of an suthor who writes series books for young readers. Lots of pictures, and lists of the books up to that point. Scholastic PB, $2.00 The Road Not Taken: An introduction to Robert Frost, subtitled A Selection of Robert Frost's Poems, with a Bilgraphical Preface and Running Commentary by Louis Untermeyer. A large hardcover book, full of poems and excellent drawings by John O'Hara Cosgrave II, and and a lot of interpretive and explanatory writing by the famous poetry expert. HB, XL, good condition, $2.00 Presenting Norma Fox Mazer (Sally Holmes Holtze) 1987. This is more of a critical look at a somewhat controversial author of books for young people, than an biography of the author, though there is biographical material, too. Interesting book! And plenty of quotes from the author herself. HB, XL, DJ, all in good condition. $2.00 The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children (Katherine Paterson) 2001. This is a wonderful book! Mostly made up of talks and speeches made by Mrs. Paterson over the years, acceptance speeches for her many awards, lectures, and readings. These are even more intersting than her books themselves, at least to me! You'll learn a lot about what goes on in the mind of an extremely well-known and highly acclaimed author. HB, XL with a DJ, all in excellent condition. $2.00 Homesick: My Own Story (Jean Fritz) 1982. Author of many fine books for young readers, tells about her early years as she grew up in China while homesick for America. She's won many awards for her writing of both fiction and non-fict. XL, Good cond, with nice DJ. $3.00 END OF SPECIAL AUTHOR-BIOGRAPHY SECTION ******************************************** MORE NONFICTION BOOKS TO FOLLOW! *********************** To lighten things up a bit, here's The Egg and I (Betty MacDonald) 1945. She wrote a lot of good books, including all those Mrs. Piggle-Wiggles, but this is the one that made her famous. Story of a city couple who wanted to have a little place in the country, and decided that raising chickens would be a nice, simple, bucolic way to make a living. Of course that was an illusion! Humorous, but in a very entertaining, even instructional, way! You'll also get acquainted with Maw and Paw Kettle, who became very well-known in their own right later on. Washington State setting. At the time it was new, I can remember my parents' saying that it was a lot like We Took to the Woods, by Rich, but about the west coast instead of Maine. HB, good condition, with a pretty good DJ. $2.50 Lives of Girls Who Became Famous (Sarah K. Bolton) several dates listed for the publication of this book. The "girls" include 22 wonderful women who should be inspirations for all of us -- Marion Anderson, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, and so many others. This is a long book, 343 pages, but not in the least "heavy" in content. Nice attractive pencil sketches of each of the subjects, and quite a bit of information about each woman's childhood. HB, XL, really nice condition, with a very good DJ. $3.00 Florence Nightingale: Founder of Modern Nursing. From the Immortals of History. 1969. A nice, friendly biography of a woman who inspires girls even after all these years. HB, XL, excellent condition, with a decorative picture cover. $2.00 Disaster Science ( A "Klutz" book) Really well done -- explains Volcanos, Hurricanes, Avalanches, Floods, and a lot of other disasters. But it's more than a textbook, much more! Lift-up flaps to show before and after, experiments to mimic these disasters in miniature, really exciting photos, and a lot of humor! This book has thick plastic pages, rather than paper, and has a spiral binding, so it'll hold up to a minor hurricane or an experiment from the book. $2.50 Gonna Sing my Head Off! American Folk Songs for Children. The songs were collected and arranged by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Allen Garns. The book has an introduction by -- Ta Da -- Arlo Gurhrie! That's enough for this musician to hear, and I know I'll love the book. There are 62 songs, John Henry, Hush Little Baby, cowboy songs, lullabies, This Land is Your Land (of course) and all kinds of American folk songs from nearly every state. There are guitar chords noted, very simple ones for children, but there's also an accompaniment for each song, for the young pianist. And tons of funny or beautiful pictures. Super music book for kids! HB, XL, DJ, large size, good condition. $3.75 Songs the children Love to Sing: subtitled A collection of More Thank Three Hundred Songs for Mothers and For Children of all Ages. Copyright 1916, but this particular copy must be a bit newer than that, as it's in pretty good condition! It's a big, big paperback book, with a very decorative front cover picture, and tons and tons of songs inside. Each one has the words and full accompaniment (they are simple, or at least they are simple for me, at about 2nd-grade piano level.) You'll know many of them, and there are plenty of new songs about all kinds of things that appeal to children like kittens, nursery rhymes, a snow man (not Frosty!)food, holidays. Many of them are activity songs with instructions included. This book is appealing for nostalgia value, or for practical purposes, teaching or having fun with your own kids. Large PB, good condition. $3.00 The Little Princesses (Marion Crawford)1950. Have you been watching the PBS series about Queen Elizabeth? We have really enjoyed it! Here's a book you'll probably like to read at the same time, since instead of being a woman in her '80s, The Queen is a little girl, along with her sister Margaret, and the author was their governess who knew them very well. She was pretty much shunned by the family after writing this detailed book about the young years of the princesses, but it's no tell-all story. In fact, compared with their more recent publicity, it seems extremely mild and loving! The sisters are quite young when the book starts, but it sees them through adulthood, the Queen's marriage, and her first baby. HB, XL, fair condition with a good and attractive DJ. #2.50 Princess Margaret: the Story of a Royal Romance (Alice Hope) 1955 and 1961. Actually this is a bio of Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, from birth to her wedding. It comes from the era when Royals were treated with some dignity and respect, thank goodness. Nice photos. Book in reading condition, with taped spine and a few other condition issues. $1.00 Scott Joplin, A Life in Ragtime (Steven Otfinoski)The story of Joplin's life and successes, the many years when he was forgotten, and the revival of his works (including his opera.) Lots of photos. HB with DJ, all in very good condition, $2.00 Will Rogers: Immortal Cowboy (Shannon Garst) Young adult biography of one of my favorite characters. This starts in his early childhood, and is full of anecdotes including the story of his courtship, which is quite a yarn, and of course lots about his travels, performances, and friendships with a lot of famous people. HB, XL, nice picture cover, $2.00 2-book set about Karen. Karen (Marie Killilea) 1952, and With Love From Karen -- and I can't really figure out what the date is for this one. Very, very, very famous story of a girl with what she doesn't like to consider a disability. Read and cried over by generations of kids and adults. Karen tells about her first few years, and With Love From Karen takes her through young adulthood. These 2 PBs are in fair condition, but quite readable. 2/$3.00 To Dance, To Dream (Maxine Drury) 1965. A nice Whitman picture cover book, looks like the Whitman Teen Novels, but this one has 10 chapters, each one telling the story of a real dancer. Pretty line drawings. $2.00 An interesting sidelight to this entry -- our local newspaper recently printed the obituary of Maxine Drury, though I had no idea that she lived in our area. She wrote sports stories for boys, under another name. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FICTION BOOKS OF MANY KINDS, INCLUDING: A FEW BIG LOTS HISTORICAL NOVELS, MUSIC AND POETRY BOOKS FOR LITTLE CHILDREN ANIMAL STORIES BOOKS WRITTEN FOR ADULTS, BUT APPROPRIATE FOR OLDER CHILDREN AND LOTS OF OTHER TYPES OF FICTION BOOKS!! Here are a couple of big lots of fiction books! 3 books by EDWARD EAGER , who kept us amused and entertained with fantasy and magic when I was a kid! My favorite was Half Magic. The 3 PBs in this set are in wonderful condition, almost new, and they have new and funny cover pictures, plus lots of internal illustrations by N. M. Bodecker. Fun! The books include: Half Magic (1954) Knight's Castle (1956) Magic by the Lake (1957) 3 beautiful paperback books by Edward Eager -- $5 for the set End of Big Lots -------------------- Three on an Island (Bianca Bradbury) 1965. I'm really fond of Bradbury's books, especially her maltshoppy type of stories, but this one straddles the line between those books and the ones written for much younger children. In this book, sister and brother are stranded on an island for several days, and have to learn to get along, just to survive. Excellent survival story, and really warm family tale. HB, XL, Obviously it was popular because it's rather worn, but it has a really good dust jacket with an attractive picture of the kids. $2.50 On Fortune's Wheel (Cynthia Voigt)1990. By the Newbery-winning author of the very good series about Dicey and her family, this is a very different kind of book. It's a historical novel, set in some very early age, about a girl who escapes marrying a man she doesn't want, and goes off with a thief that she's just caught stealing their boat. I understand that it's a sort of sequel to Jackaroo, one of Voigt's earlier romantic and historical books. HB, very good condition, personal copy, with a very good DJ. $3.00 Up a Road Slowly (Irene Hunt) 1966. Starts when the girl is 7 and her mother dies. She goes to live with her aunt in the country, and there she grows through childhood and into her teen years. A beautiful story -- not quite a Maltshop, despite the date, but appealing to us in a lot of the same ways. This is a really nice copy, a personal copy with a very good DJ. I like the DJ picture of the old country house and birch trees! HB, DJ, very good condition, $3.50 Kildee House (Rutherford Montgomery) illustrated by Barbara Cooney, 1949. "An odd man" built a house under a redwood tree, high on a mountainside above the Pacific, in the exact middle of his 100 acres, so his only friends were animals. Then some children came into the life of Jerome Kildee and his many raccoon and other animal friends. A very special story, nice Christmas section, very interesting ending. Lots of darling Cooney animal pictures (she was a much-loved Maine artist that you probably know best from her pictures in Just Plain Maggie.) HB, XL, PC, good condition -- recommended by me. $3.00 Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians (Mary Nash)1961. Cute series about a family who uses a magic housekeeper, who seems to go away and leave the family from time to time, so that amazing things can happen while she's gone! In this one, she goes off to New York when she wins a recipe contest, and that's when the fun begins. HB, good condition, $2.00 Tammy Out of Time (Cid Ricketts Sumner)1948. Remember the movie and the very popular song, "Tammy" from the late 1950s? This is the book that the movie and song came from. Tammy is an ultra-innocent girl who lives happily in a houseboat with her grandfather. Then they rescue a sick stranger and nurse him back to health. Things start to change for Tammy after that, and this is the story about the changes (for better and for worse) and her romance. Nice, sweet story, not really written for teens, but appropriate enough for them. HB, pretty endpapers. $2.00 A Jewish Holiday Boxed Set (Jane Breskin Zalben) 1991. Characters are a nice family of bears, who have adventures surrounding the Jewish holidays. The slipcase is a little worn, as slipcases often become, but the little picture books are in very good condition. Titles include: Beni's First Chanukah Happy Passover, Rosie Goldie's Purim Leo and Blossom's Sukkah Slipcase with 4 picture books -- $2.50 The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis) Includes The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. Nice hardcover edition, in good condition, with lots of black-and-white illustrations. $3.50 Catherine, Called Birdy (Karen Cushman) A Newbery Honor book from 1994. I've talked with people who don't like this book, and I will have to agree with them that it might not be totally historically accurate. I'm not a historian, so Dave and I thought it was really good! Funny, instructive, full of those "gross" details that kids love to read about (people weren't quite as fussy about hygiene in 1290 as they are now!) Girl keeps a diary during her 14th year, during which she is promised in marriage to a man that she figures would be a horrible husband. And a whole lot of other things, good and not so good, happen to her. Every day's date is prefaced by the saint or martyr of that day, which is sometimes quite appropriate. I won't go on about it, but I think most people will get quite a kick out of this book. Personal copy, HB, with DJ, in very good condition. $3.00 Depend on Katie John (Mary Calhoun) from the Katie John series. 1961.#2 in such a nice series! Family is running a boarding house in the old family home, and Katie John has to make the best of this unsettling situation. Nice Paul Frame illustrations, including the cover picture of KJ and a darling puppy. HB PC personal copy in very good condition. $2.25 The Fastest Friend in the West (Vicki Grove)1990. This is one of those fairly recent fiction books that I really don't mean to read, but once I start them, I usually stay up until 1 AM to finish them. In this one, a rather friendless girl is really not happy when a new girl in the school latches onto her. The new girl is dirty, ragged, and very strange, but she won't leave Lori alone. This certainly doesn't help Lori make any other friends! Eventually she finds out what the truth is, in a poignant story-within-a-story, and I especially like the short view of what may have happened after the main part of the story is over. Former library book and DJ are both in almost new condition. Read this, it's worth a couple of hours! $1.50 The Turkey's Nest (Alison Price) 1980. Though it's too new to be a Maltshop, and it's British at that, this book really kept my attention! Teen girl is pregnant, her self-centered boyfriend is no help at all, her mother sends her to live with an aunt that she barely knows, on a farm. It's a beautiful story of the girl's developing love for the farm and her aunt, her pregnancy, a sharpened awareness of what her boyfriend and her mother were really like, and what she wanted to do with her life. I sat up late to finish this one! HB, XL, DJ, good condition. $2.00 Tressa's Dream (Priscilla Holton Neff) 1965. Her dream is a horse with a white star on its forehead. What she gets is a goat that pulls a wagon. And eventually a horse -- but is it her dream come true? It's really quite a darling story, with more to it than horse-horse-horse. Friendship, family, growing up. Written for perhaps middle grades, the cover is especially pretty, nice friendly-looking girl and a line-up of animals looking on. HB, $2.00 The Nuggets of Singing Creek (Grace S. Dawson) 1938. Junior Literary Guild selection and a very high-quality book. I haven't heard of Loren Barton, the illustrators, but the pictures are very interesting, especially the frontispiece in muted shades of black, beige, and white. Also interesting endpaper scene, looks like a town and campground, with a huge fleet of ships in the harbor. Boy and his father go to California to find gold! They leave the womenfolk behind, which seems sort of unfair to me! There are plenty of adventures before they are all reunited, and there's a nice surprise ending. An attractive book and a very good story. $2.50 Williver's Luck (Alice Mary Hadfield) 1788 setting. Boy takes his mother's cheese and butter to market, but crooks steal all his proceeds, and he's afraid to go home. He feels that he has to earn it back, so that's when his adventures start. This is a very fine story that you'll especially love if you enjoy YA historical novels with a bit of adventure in them. Book's cover is in fair condition, interior pages are very good. HB, $1.50 Two-Book set about Paulo, a boy in Ancient Hawaii. First is -- Island Boy, A Story of Ancient Hawaii (Robert R. Harry, Sr.) 1956. The description says "In this delightful tale, the leading character, Paulo, says Aloha to American children, and shares with them the poetry and wisdom of everyday life in old Hawaii. Very attractive HB book with a good DJ. And: Shark Boy (Robet R. Harry, Sr.) 1957 Further Adventures of Island Boy. He builds his own canoe and goes out into the Hawaiian waters, where he has to battle the dangers including a man-eating shark which is a demon in disguise. Another very good-looking book, with an exciting picture on the dust jacket! Each of these books is in good condition, very good DJs, lots of dramatic illustrations, and 250 pages of good reading. 2-book set, $5.00 Trout Summer (Jane Leslie Conly) 1995. I've been reading some of the PB YA's that I've collected over the years. Sometimes I can't get through more than a few pages, other times I am caught up within a few sentences, and this is one of the latter. I love the near- wilderness setting, the kids who live there all day while their mother is at work, the cabin that they pretty much resurrect from being torn down, the mysterious man who shows up and gradually makes friends with them. Nice picture on the cover, too -- 2 kids in a canoe, looking as if they were about to go over the falls. PB, $1.50 Tomas Takes Charge (Charlene Joy Talbot) 1966. Space Ship Under the Apple Tree (written and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin)1952. Fun! Did you enjoy this "sci-fi" story when you were younger? Here's a library copy with a pretty good Dj, for your nostalgic pleasure. $2.00 Snow Treasure (Marie McSwigan) 1942. From the foreword: "This story is based on an actual happening. .. Freighter Bomma reached Baltimore with a cargo of gold bullion worth $9,000,000... the gold, it was learned, had been slipped past Nazi sentries by Norwegian children who had pulled it on their sleds to... Norway's coast." But this (deliberately disguised) story of how the children saved Norway's gold for after the war, is fictionalized, and has been a very, very popular book with children for all these years. Written for maybe middle grades, it reads like an adventure or mystery. It doesn't downplay the danger of what was going on in that part of the world. Who can be trusted? What is the mysterious disease that spreads through the schools? Lovely illustrations, they're almost the best part of the book. HB, XL, both in fairly good condition $3.00 Snow Treasure in HB, XL, no DJ, pretty good condition, $2.00 Miss Hickory (Carolyn Sherwin Bailey) 1946. Newbery Award Winning book. Poor Miss Hickory, she's only made of twigs and nuts, but she has to survive a serious New Hampshire winter in her flimsy corncob house. Here's the story of how she managed, with the help of her animal friends, who are beautifully illustrated by artist Ruth Gannett. Something lovely happens to her in the spring! Not a picture book, exactly, since it's mostly words, and over 120 pages long, but the pictures are as good as the tale. This was a favorite book when I was young. HB, XL, both book and DJ in pretty good condition, with a few dents, small tears and smudges to show that the book was loved. $2.50 MORE NOVELS COMING UP AFTER A LITTLE CHRISTMAS SECTION! ********************************************************* Christmas is over for this year, but it's still fun to read about it. Here are a few Christmas-themed books that are good any time of year. Treasury of Christmas Stories -- nice Scholastic pb from 1960. Many stories, poems, carols, Christmas customs from around the world and here in the US. Good cond. $2 The Legend of Holly Claus (Brittney Ryan) 2004. I haven't read this yet, but it seems like something that fantasy-lovers wouldn't want to miss. This extremely thick PB has a beautiful cover picture and quite a few illustrations. It's from the Julie Andrews Collection (that sounds as if it will be lovely, doesn't it?) Back cover has a quote from Publishers Weekly "A lush and leisurely Yuletide read" and indicates that it's appropriate for ages 9 and up. Holly Claus is Santa's and Mrs. Santa's daughter, and this is her life story, taking place in Victorian times. Full of fairies, magical friends, and adventures. PB, $2.50 The Long Christmas (Ruth Sawyer) with illustrations by Valenti Angelo, 1941. A beautiful book full of stories chosen by Sawyer, who wrote a respected book on story-reading. Christmas tales from around the world, a few modern tales, and a poem for each story. High quality paper and covers, a really nice HB book. $3.50 Santa Claus in Santaland (Dr. Harold W. Trott) 1942. This little book has an unusual story behind it. There is a paragraph in the front, saying that all royalties will go toward purchase of Santa Claus presents for crippled children. And that the publishers will deliver a copy of the book to each crippled child in the US on his or her 5th Christmas. The story tells about Santa, his workshop, why he does so much for children, and how it is done. There are pretty red-and-white Christmas card looking pictures throughout, some of them in silouhette, some sketchy, and a very imaginative story. Interesting gift for a Santa collector, or just for fun. Small HB with DJ. $2.25 ************** End of Christmas books, back to assorted Fiction books ****************** Eight Nursery Tales (edited by Watty Piper) the only dates listed in this book are 1932 and 1938. I'm not trying to say this copy is that old, since it's very clean and crisp looking. But who knows, it might be! The DJ shows the controversial Little Black Sambo, looking happy and proud leading a parade of animals and children from nursery tales like Chicken Little, Gingerbread Boy, and Little Red Hen. There is a slight musty odor to this book. HB, DJ with some pieces missing from the very bottom, $3.00 The Creep (Susan Dodson) 1979. I recently read this book, on a night when I couldn't sleep all night due to a noisy environment. I didn't really mind too much, as I was so wrapped up in this story. A teen-age babysitter feels guilty that she hadn't listened well enough to her little charge, who said some man tried to make her get into a car. Later the young one was kidnapped and almost attacked (the babysitter rescued her.) The guilt over the incident caused the babysitter to offer herself to the police as bait for the serial molester. All this is on the front flap, so I'm not giving away the bulk of the really suspenseful story. Family dynanamics, police work, very, very interesting although quite suspenseful enough for anyone. Listed to be for ages 12 and up. HB, XL, DJ, very good condition, $3.00 Castaways in Lilliput (Henry Winterfeld) 1958 3 children are floating around in a rubber raft, when the wind takes them far off shore and they're eventually shipwrecked on a strange shore, maybe an island? Turns out to be Gulliver's Lilliput, "completely modernized and up-to-date" to quote the book. Cars, factories, electricity, everything! This whole situation creates a lot of problems, as you might imagine! And how in the world will they ever get home again? I think I would have adored this book as a child, I'm sorry it was too late for me to read it then, since I liked it quite a bit when I read it as an adult. Australia setting. HB, DJ, good condition, $2.00 Fear in the Forest (Cateau de Leeuw) 1960. Orphan boy is afraid of the forest, but he has to join a pack-house train and set right out through Indian territory with General Anthony Wayne so he could start a life of his own. Set in 1790's Ohio Territory. HB, DJ, very good condition, probably aimed at middle school reading level. $2.00 NEXT, A FEW REALLY OLD NOVELS, WITH PRETTY COVERS!!! Good condition. The School Favorite (Mrs. L. T. Meade) No date listed. These very old books were long, and full of illness and introspection, but were they ever beautiful! This one has a cover picture (in full color) of 2 girls in a canoe, one paddling and the other just about to land a fish. Lake, trees, sky, interesting clothes and hair-dos. $2.50 The Young Mutineers (L. T. Meade, I think it's the same person as MRS L. T. Meade) 1903. The cover of this book is enchanting -- a girl in a blue dress with pink parasol and fancy hat. Sitting on a rustic fence in some kind of orchard. I think the artist's name is E. Vernon, though the title page lists Gordon Browne. He may have illustrated the original book, as I think this a reprint from no more than a century ago. HB, PC, $3.00 A Sweet Girl Graduate (Mrs. L. T. Meade) 1910. This is quite an interesting-looking book, small, with a pretty red and red-swirled cover (looks like an old notebook) and attractive patterned endpapers and decorations. There's a page of biography and bibliography of Mrs. Meade, who was quite a prolific author as well as being "devoted to motoring and other outdoor sports." Wow, talk about an active life! This is probably her best-known book, as I've seen several other editions of it. I would assume this one is part of a matched set of books for girls, as there's a list at the front saying the listed titles will be followed by others until the series contains 60 volumes of the best literature for girls! I haven't read the book, maybe you could read it and tell me whether you liked it or not. #2.00 END OF VERY OLD AND FANCY BOOKS! BACK TO GENERAL FICTION BOOKS! Mary Cary (Kate Langley Bosher) 1910. This is a tear-jerker from the adorable DJ to the very satisfying ending. Orphan keeps things busy at the institution, and helps a very dear friend with her romance. XL but a very pretty book, good cond, nice DJ. $3.50 Summer Brings Gifts (Anne Ritner) 1956. I think this was written as an adult book, but it's sweet and appropriate for teens, too. Description says "Summer in ... Colorado in 1913 was a good time, a happy time.... for Mary this summer meant choosing between love and developing her talent... For 10-year-old Susan, it was a summer of magic and mischief. And for their mother, Emily, unexpectedly expecting a baby, this summer was one of renewed wonder. Chatauqua... Fourth of July Parade, picnic, sunshine and magic..." Sounds nice, doesn't it!! HB, with really nice picture on the DJ, a teen couple leaning on a weathered fence, with Colorado mountains in the background, a big green tree in the foreground. HB, XL, good DJ, $3.00
The Little Hellion (Mabel Thompson Rauch) 1960. Called "A Story of Egypt (Southern Illinois.)" I might have thought this was a figment of the author's imagination, but I coincidently just read another story that took place in "Egypt," and characterized it as a very wild place. Takes place during the last few years of the 1800s, and Sally (between ages of 9 and 13) is sure a little Hellion! Well, maybe not, but she has a lot of fun and gets into lots of trouble. It's a lovely story of an unusual time and place, even includes the slightest touch of romance. HB, XL, with a pretty DJ. $3.00 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Kate Douglas Wiggin) origially from 1903. I don't know anything about first editions of classics, but this one must be from quite a long time ago. The cover pictures are adorable, though not too farm-like. One shows a nice house surrounded by flowers and trees, the other is a winding road going off into the distance, or maybe it's a river, going through a field into a romantic horizon. Exterior spine has flower and vine decorations. Grosset and Dunlap. If you collect interesting and pretty old books, you might like this one very much. Not perfect cond, but sturdy and clean except a few small stains on corners and back of the cover. Clear-taped spine. $2.50 Follow My Leader (James Garfield) 1957. Boy is blinded after playing with fireworks. Of course he has a terrible time adjusting to this, and so do his friends -- until he gets a guide dog. Then things start to turn around. VERY good reading, serious but not tragic. Boy Scout connection, too! HB, good cond, $2.00 The New Boy (Mary Urmston) 1950. Author of very popular children's mysteries and good career-romances for teens, shows another side of her talents with this book about a 9-yr-old boy and his family, who have to adjust to a new town and school. Very, very cute. HB, XL $2.00 Stories from Animal Land (Annie E. Chase) 1891. Want to see what you would have been reading to your children more than a century ago? Educational but entertaining little stories for young children. Many of the stories have a simple moral (be kind to animals, for instance.) Nearly 200 pages. Sweet pictures (b/w line drawings) Nice condition for a very old book. HB $3.00 Miss Pickerell goes Undersea (Ellen MacGregor) 1953. Nice XL in good HB! $3.00 ______________________________________________________________________________________ ANIMAL BOOKS There are lots of animal stories other places, too, but here are a few especially nice ones Star in the Storm (Joan Hiatt Harlow) 2000. A beautiful little book that will appeal to dog-lovers. Set in Newfoundland in 1912, and telling about a dog of the breed named for that province. Girl has to hide her dog after a no-dog law is passed, but something amazing happens. No more hints. This book is in very good condition, and has a dj picture that will certainly appeal to dog lovers. HB, DJ, $2.00 The Dog Who Wouldn't Be (Farley Mowat) 1957. Famous animal writer's book about a boy and his dog, Mutt. The boy was Farley Mowat himself, and the dog was apparently his when he was a kid preparing for his writing career by living with a lot of animals! Plenty of amusing pictures by Paul Galdone, including dogs, cows, owls, and even a stuffed grouse on the dust jacket! HB, DJ, $2.00 3-book GYPSY horse series by Sharon Wagner. This is the entire series, and these large paperbacks are very, very attractive. The covers have checked backgrounds, and very appealing horse pictures in a square in the middle. Evan the back covers have attractive horse pictures. The books are in good condition, making a pretty line-up of books that have been popular with horse-loving kids for a generation or more. They tell the story of Wendy and Gypsy, both of whom had sad backgrounds, and needed each other to break the bonds of the past. Gypsy from Nowhere (1972) Gypsy and Nimblefoot (1973) Gypsy and the Moonstone Stallion (1980) 3 large paperbacks, $5.00 for all Wyoming Summer (Mary O'Hara) 1963. O'Hara wrote a 3-book series, beginning with My Friend Flicka. But this is a "documentary novel" is about life on the real ranch where those stories were set. There are horses and a lot of other animals, and a group of kids who are attending a summer camp there! And more! HB, good condition, with pretty good DJ. Personal copy. $4.00 Flash of Phantom Canyon (Agnes V. Ranney) 1963. Much more than an animal story, but the dear little colt on the cover plays a big part. Native American boy -- or is he a white boy? He wants to discover his own past, who his parents were, where he belongs. Friendly, easy story, not grim or heavy but just nice! Historical setting in the Northwest when it was the frontier, Good PB. $1.50 Pepper (Barbara Leonard Renolds) illustrations by Barbara Cooney --1964. Very good story of a boy and his pet raccoon. HB, good condition, picture cover, $2.00 The Sorrel Stallion: The horse that Came Home (David Grew) 1932. Bills itself as the American Black Beauty. Grosset and Dunlap Famous Horse Stories series. good condition book with a partial DJ. Front has about 1/3 missing, but the 2 beautiful horses and a mountain background are still there. Bottom half of spine is missing, but back cover is all there... Interior of book is very good, with lots of horse pictures by famous Paul Brown. $3.00 Trumper (Hetty Burlingame Beatty) 1963. Boy and horse, plus quite a few other animals and 4-H. XL $2 The Black Stallion Mystery (Farley) PB good condition! $1.50 _______---------------___________----------------______________--------------
PAPERBACKS OF MANY KINDS! ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Across America on an Emigrant Train (Jim Murphy) 1993. Large (tall) paperback with a dramatic cover picture, tells about the rugged experiences of emigrants who came to America in the 2nd half of the 1800s, and traveled to California by train. Uses the journals of Robert Louis Stevenson to tell this story. Scholastic PB, full of photos mostly taken at that time, and artists' sketches. $2.00 All-of-a-Kind Family (Sydney Taylor) First book in this lovely series, very large PB format, with the original, joyous cover picture (5 darling girls in blue dresses with white pinafores, carrying their schoolbooks down the steps.) XL in good condition, $2.00 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Waltons (Robert Weverka) 1974. Front cover says "The first novel about America's Favorite TV family) cover picture shows the entire Walton clan sitting in front of the very familiar house. PB $1 Sara Crewe (Frances Hodgson Burnett) abridged version of The Little Princess, that fascinating story of a little rich girl who loses her money and is turned into a slave for the cruel headmistress of her school. Then amazing things start to happen! Scholastic PB with beautiful paisley cover, nice for a little girl. PB, $1.00 The Shy One (Dorothy Nathan) 1966. Girl's almost-grown-up uncle comes from Russia and is put into her own 5th grade class, to her embarassment (He can't speak English but he's very outgoing!) And she was just starting to make friends! Takes place in 1921. PB, $1.00 (2) Escape from Warsaw (Ian Serraillier)I don't know the original date, but this Scholastic edition is from 1966. PB $1 Brighty of the Grand Canyon (Marguerite Henry) One of the burros that live at the Grand Canyon! 1983 $2 Trina -- Patricia Miles Martin 1967 She hasn't learned to speak English, so the other kids tease her badly. And strangely enough, she lives in a boxcar, just like that other family! $1 Julie's Heritage (Catherine Marshall) 1957 PB $1 Boys' Books Set of 3 books from the Boys' Life Library (From Boys' Life Magazine, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America.) 2 of these books are filled with stories from vintage Boys' Life Magazines, mostly from the 1940s and 1950s. The third is also a publication of Boys' Life, but is a sci-fi adventure. Each of these HB books is in very good condition, with colorful picture covers, good bindings, and nice clean pages. These matching books look GOOD! Included are: The Boys' Life Book of Football Stories The Boys' Life bok of World War II Stories Mutiny in the Time Machine, a Boys' Life Library Book (1963) Set of 3 Boys' Life Library HB books, $9.00 Wagon Scout (Jane and Paul Annixter) 1965. (subtitled -- A Story of Leadership) I haven't read this one all the way through, but enough to know that it's a good Western for middle-grade readers, with a very nice cover picture of a young man on a horse, on a hill above the trail, where a wagon train is hurrying along. Hills and cliffs and pinetrees. Mentions many famous guides and leaders, like Kit Carson, but this one is very fine historical fiction. HB, PC, good condition, $2.00 Tom Harmon and the Great Gridiron Plot (Jay Dender) 1946. This is a beautiful book! DJ has a framed picture of the famous football hero, Tom Harmon, plus a colorful picture of 2 men running across the field in full football outfits and helmets. The story is fiction, as it's a 1946 Whitman Authorized Edition supposed to be about the adventures of the football star. Illustrated by Henry E. Vallely, who really knew how to draw heroic sports figures, both on the field, and relaxing (He drew glamorous women, too, you may remember.) And if you aren't a football fan, there is a bit of college life in this story, too. HB, DJ, good condition. $3.00 Tom Swift Jr #17, Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X. 1961. Another incredible looking machine and a wildly dangerous-looking background! Good condition. $3.50 Forest Fire Mystery (Troy Nesbit) 1962. A very nice copy of this mystery that takes place in the Colorado Rockies. Billed as a boys' book, it has plenty of room for his sister, Liz, and the Dew Drop Inn that their father runs. Quite a few nice 2-color pictures in this Whitman book with a wrap PC. I think you'll like it! HB, PC, $2.00 Bruce Larkin, Air Force Cadet (Jack Pearl) 1962. This book follows Bruce through his first yeart at the air force academy, learning about duty and loyalty, and solving the many problems and mysteries that he encounters! PB, good condition, $1.50 Chip Hilton Series (very popular sports series for boys!) Championship Ball -- Chip Hilton #2. This one has a DJ, though it's not perfect. DJ has a small triangle chip out of the bottom of the front cover, and a gummy place near the top, where some vandal stuck a price sticker! Other than that, not bad at all. The book itself is pretty good, in reddish tweed covers. $3.00 Dugout Jinx -- Chip #8. This is a nice copy with a picture cover, only thing I can see is that it has slight separation of the page block from the spine in one interior area. Not a complete separation. It was apparently bound that way. Otherwise, clean and nice. $5.50 Ten Seconds to Play -- Chip Hilton # 12. HB in fair condition. Former school library copy has good binding, good front cover, and clean pages. The outside spine is quite scuffed, especially at top and bottom. corners have quite a bit of wear. HB, tweed cover, $5.00 Tournament Crisis -- chip #14. Good tweed copy, no DJ. It's square, corners are pretty sharp, and pages are clean. $3.50 Pay-off Pitch -- Chip #16. Fairly good tweed copy, Worn at corners and along edges of spine, good binding, but a little bit of play can be noticed. Pages are mostly very clean, with a bit of browning along the front edges when the book is closed. HB, $5.00 Hardcourt Upset -- Chip #15. Nice picture cover copy, with original $1.25 price sticker still on the front cover. a bit of wear in the usual places, and the binding isn't 100% perfect. But not too bad, and holding together nicely. HB with PC, $7.50 Garry Grayson's Double Signals (Elmer A. Dawson) This is another book with a stunning DJ. Especially if you like football pictures! Angular men in yellow or blue jerseys, dashing up the field, with a stylish ref and cheering crowds in the background. Both book and DJ in good condition. (I'd almost say very good condition.) $6.00 Over The Line (Harold M. Sherman) 1929. Another book with a very good DJ, football players tripping all over each other, lots of earthy colors, and a fizzy background of grandstands and spectators.Book is firm and sturdy but has age-related browning. DJ is good, the only problem being a few slight tears at the edges. Goldsmith edition. $3.00 Lost City of Uranus (Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure #6) 1962. Fair condition copy. It would be good cond except for one corner of the cover, which has the outer, colored layer of paper rubbed off for about 1". Otherwise, quite a good condition book. Pages uniformly brown, but clean. Nice picture cover. I think it's the last book in this series. Copies on ABE books seem to run in the $25+ range. My price is $8.00 Bronc Burnett -- Flying Tackle -- picture cover. Very small area at top right corner has the color torn off due to a price tag someone apparently pulled off. Exterior corners are somewhat rubbed, but interior is very clean and tight. $4.00 END OF BOOK SALE LIST