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I'm not sure of the name of the book you're looking for, but I think the duck's name is Jerusha.
Q4 quack: can't identify the anthology yet, but the story mentioned is 'Quack!' said Jerusha, by Mildred Plew Merryman, published Sears 1920s?, "an infectious nonsense in verse."
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It was a story of Jerusha the duck who lived in a barnyard with other animals and had an identity crisis, or got lost. She went around the barnyard spending time with each of the animals saying "I think I am a cow....I think I am a pig...."  I remember it it as a short story inside a larger book of children's stories from the 1950's.  The most vivid memory is from the end of the story when the little duck, after comparing herself to other farm animals throughout the barnyard,  proclaims "Quack," said Jerusha, "I think I am a duck."  It sounds a bit like "The Ugly Duckling" it is not.

It's a hard book to find, but it's already on Solved Mysteries: 'Quack!' said Jerusha, by Mildred Plew Merryman, published Sears 1920s?, "an infectious nonsense in verse."
My mom has a copy of this.  It was my favorite.   It is not nonsense, but a darling story of a baby duck who has some cute adventures and grows up to meet her mate and have little duckies of her own!  Great rhymes.
I also remember Jerusha the duck.  It was in a book of stories for children published by Whitman Publishing Co., Racine Wisconsin, perhaps in the 1950's. My aunt worked there, but I do not know the title of the book. I would like to find that book.
Hey!!  Thanks to a highly detailed and footnoted scientific paper(which quoted from "Jerusha" in a chapter heading!), have found the following citation:
"Children's Stories" , pub. Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, WI,  1950, pp.117-136 Author: Mildred Plew Merryman, sometimes listed as Meigs

I'm pretty sure I've read this too--it was the first time I learned that the root of Queen Anne's Lace is poisonous. Mary Downing Hahn comes to mind, but I'm not certain that she was writing that early.  Most of her books do feature adolescent girls and abandoned buildings, though.
Queen Anne's Lace by Frances Parkinson Keyes.

#B231--Birthday farmgirl pregnant by elf lover:  If you go to the reference page at the Tam Lin site,  by reading descriptions of titles listed there, you can find the ballad on which the story is based and at least determine books it isn't.
Dahlov Ipcar, The Queen of Spells, 1973.  A young girl, Janet meets Tom Linn in an old abandoned farmhouse surrounded by roses, and she plights her troth to him.  He promises to return when she is grown-up, in seven days.  He returns in seven years, and she becomes pregnant.  He is not a free man, though, having been captured by the Queen of Spells when he fell off his horse as a boy, and he became the Queen's Knight of Roses.  On Halloween, he will ride in her entourage, and if Janet can pull him off his horse and hold on to him no matter what he changes into, the Queen will lose all power over him. She pulls him down, and finds herself at a circus.  She holds a serpent, which becomes a cold iron bar, a hoop of fire, a bear, a Tarot card, a valentine card which catches on fire, etc.  She holds on to the objects until at last he turns into burning coals, which she throws into well water. When she comes to, she is in a gypsy wagon, with Tom beside her.  They return and wed the next day, to discover that months have passed and her father has died.  The story is a retelling of the scottish ballad Tam Lin.
One of the many versions of Tam Lin. Several can be ruled out: Cooper's, Pamela Dean's, Wynne Jones', Storr's, Pope's. Can't find a description of Never Let Go by Geraldine McCaughrean, but the title is promising. Here's a link that might help.
Dahlov Ipcar, Queen of Spells, 1973.  New York: Viking Press, 1973.  (Simultaneous publication in Canada by Macmillan) Childrens'/Young Adult Fiction. Chapter-book set in the more likely nineteenth century  Janet is the daughter of a land-owning farmer who gives her the abandoned house on his property as a gift.  She meets "Tom" Lynn there, and he gifts her with roses, which she returns to pick subsequently.  Seven years pass between their first meeting and the occasion on which Janet, then eighteen, is impregnated. her father then, following the ballad, is both kind but disappointed and determined to find her a mortal husband.  The unusual time-component of Tom's capture has him spending alternating time in both the real world and faerie through his childhood, thus allowing him to be known in Janet's community and of her age, while having dwelt for many years as the chosen of the Faerie Queen.  Janet's Halloween rescue of Tom takes place over the course of an entire night of nightmare images in an otherworldly gypsy carnival, which is found to have been a six-month period by the following "morning"  Janet's father dies during this time, allowing an element of price-paying and darkness into the story.  The ballad (Child 39 A) is reprinted on the final pages. (C+P from the Tam Lin Pages)
I can't identify the specific book but it is clearly based on the old Scottish folk ballad of "Tam Lin" the plot as described sounds like a slight modernization of that of the song.
This sounds like a retelling of the Tam Lin story, although it is not the one by Pamela Dean.
Jane Yolen, Tam Lin, 1990.  If this isn't the Jane Yolen version, it certainly sounds like _some_ version of "Tam Lin" (an old Scottish ballad which has been rendered into story numerous times -- it's not Pamela Dean's, however, so don't even bother to go there).  A description of this version:  "In this retelling of an old Scottish ballad, a Scottish lass, on the Halloween after her sixteenth birthday, reclaims her family home which has been held for years by the fairies, and at the same time effects the release of Tam Lin, a human held captive by the Queen of the Fey."

Stephan Hanna, The Quest, c. 1968.  (Originally published in England and Germany under the title: The Long Way Home). "Fact-based story of a 5-year-old German boy who is captured and adopted by a Russian officer during World War II and spends the next nine years wandering throughout Asia in an attempt to return home to a mother he only vaguely remembers."
I wanted to write and thank you so VERY much. All three of the books I sent in as stumpers have been solved. It was so fun to go to your website and check for results - a little like waiting for Christmas.  Your service is wonderful, and I thank you a hundred times over.  The books you found for me were: O67 - "Orphan girl" which was Faraway Dream  I71 - "Indian boy," which was Komantcia And G236 "German boy," which was The Quest.

S248 This is just a shot in the dark, but the description reminded me of A QUESTION OF TIME by Dina Anastasio, 1978. It was also published as a Scholastic Club book (but not a Weekly Reader). And the town is in Minnesota. I don't remember many details, but after a young girl moves to a small town, she becomes intrigues with carved wooden dolls in that look like her ancestors. I can't confirm that there's a girl ghost who plays marbles. It might be worth looking at though. ~from a librarian
S248 is NOT Bianco The doll in the window
[S248] This one rings a bell. Could the name Laura be in the title, or Sydney?
A Question of Time--that's it!!  Thank you so much as I have been looking for this book for years.

T19 is the short story Sound of Thunderit is in R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury and maybe other collections.
T19 is a short story--The Time Machine--by Ray Bradbury found in R is for Rocket and probably in later collections as well. Try to find R is for Rocket, though, because it's a very nice selection of thought-provoking stories, crafted with care. Just remembering it makes me want to read it again right now.

Thank you so much!  I gather you don't have one for sale.  I think your site is the neatest!  Will continue to check back, meanwhile I will look for the book on the auctions, etc.  thanks again!

The person MAY be thinking of the Rabbit and Skunk books by Carla Stevens and illustrated by Robert Kraus. I don't which title it was though - RABBIT & SKUNK AND SPOOKS; RABBIT AND SKUNK AND THE SCARY ROCK and there may be others. I wouldn't want the person to spend the money and not have it be the right book, but maybe they can do some online searching or ask their local library. But maybe the person can't find the book because it's not a raccoon?
I have a copy of Rabbit and Skunk and the Big Fight, in which Rabbit and Skunk dress up as a ghost to scare a big woodchuck, until Rabbit plays dead and all three decide it's better to be friends than enemies.  No Rowdy boys, but definately ghost tactics.

Checking lists of Caldecott : nearest one so far: 1993 Honor bk  Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young (Philomel Books)
Could this be a version of Thumbelina?  A blind mole is part of the story.
Could it be the 1943 Newbery winner, Have you Seen Tom Thumb?
kenneth grahame, Wind in the Willows, 1908.  I know it's the wrong year, but definitely has a blind mole.
Robert Lawson, Rabbit Hill, 1944.  This won the Newbery, not the Caldecott, but it does seem to fit the description. There is a Mole character in it, who is blind, along with a lot of other animals most of them have names but he is just referred to as The Mole.
Jim Moran, Sophocles the Hyena, 1954.  There is a blind mole in this story named Miff who plays the bagpipes  anthologized in the series Best in Children's Books).
The name of the book I remembered was Rabbit Hill.  Thank you to your helpers.

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Lawson, Robert.  Rabbit Hill.  Viking Press, 1944, New paperback edition.  $6

ooooo, I remember this one...  A slick North-South publication perhaps, or akin to Gregoire Solotareff's Don't Call Me Little Bunny (also a great book along these bizarre lines, but not the one you're looking for).    I'll keep thinking.
B361 ??? Lloyd, David    Thomas the rabbit    Barbara Firth    Scholastic    1985    escapes - juvenile fiction; rabbits.
Steiner, Jorg, Rabbit Island, Bergy Pub. Group, 1984.  "Follows the adventures of two rabbits after they escape from the rabbit factory."

Wiese, Kurt, The Rabbit's Revenge, Coward-McCann, 1940. Old Man Shivers planned on killing rabbits for a coat.  The rabbits found out and made a plan to stop him.  The rabbits, with the help of nature, caused the old man's house to float away and they never saw him again.

I think this is Garth Williams' The Rabbit's Wedding, a classic early children's book of racial tolerance. I'll hunt for a copy for you. 

Amelia Elizabeth Walden, Race the Wild Wind, 1965. This is definitely Race the Wild Wind by Amelia Elizabeth Walden, 1965.  I have a copy, and I doublechecked to make sure that all the characters are there--Marty, Glory, and Garth.
Amelia Elizabeth Walden, Race the Wild Wind, 1965. I think that Amelia Elizabeth Walden is the author you are looking for. The name Marty rings a bell. Unfortunately I can't dig up my Walden books to doublecheck this and she wrote about 3 skiing books. The title Race the Wild Wind came to mind but I'm not sure if this is the title.
I've been so busy I almost forgot to check back on my book stumper.  I cannot thank you enough!!  I am absolutely THRILLED to find the name of this book which has been puzzling me for so long.   Now I can purchase it.  This service is absolutely wonderful!!

This is Rackety-Boom by Betty Ren Wright ('53).
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This was a story of a "nice old truck." It was blue, I think,  and got stuck in the mud at the top of the hill and took the family to the fair.  I can't remember much more, but it was generally the story of a faithful family truck.

Ok, so maybe I should have read a little more before sending the stumpers--I found my old blue truck in the solved stumpers.  Its called Rackety-Boom by Betty Ren Wright and I'd love to get a copy of it.  Can you tell me how much a copy would cost?

Finally I got it.  I knew the title was familiar.  Rackety packety house is Racketty packetty house by Francis Hodgson Burnett.  These are fairly available used.  I was interested to see that Harrison Cady is the illustrator.
I've also been racking my brain about a series of books I read in around 1982-1984 about a dollhouse of dolls that were alive, although I'm going to see if Rumer Godden's books are they.  Are there any other books that spring to mind about living dolls?
There seem to be a lot of stumpers about dolls and doll houses.  Two different books we have are Moppet and Rackety Packety House.
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The story I'm searching for was about 2 little girls who found a doll house in their attic, I think. They played with it...the dolls were living their own lives when the girls weren't around...and at the end I believe the royal princesses (so I'm guessing this was set in England) took the doll house back to their home and refurbished it???? Sound familiar?

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Rackety Packety House.  I'm pretty sure this must be what you're looking for. It's about family of china headed dolls and their dollhouse which are passed from generation to generation. The dolls have their own life though they are much loved by each little girl in turn. They are neglected by the most recent descendant of the family when she receives a brand new dollhouse complete with dolls. At the end of the book, the granddaughter (great granddaughter?) of Queen Victoria comes to visit her since the first little girl's grandmother was something like a lady-in-waiting to the queen. Queen Victoria's granddaughter ignores the fancy new dollhouse and falls in love with the old dollhouse and dolls. I think she takes them away with her.
D184 Not sure, but try THROUGH THE DOLLS' HOUSE DOOR by Jane Gardam, 1987~from a librarian
I think that's the one!!! I'm so excited...I can't wait to track down a copy to read. Thank you very, very much.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, Racketty Packetty House

Interpreting Condition  Grades

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. Racketty-Packetty House.  As Told by Queen Crosspatch.  Illustrated by Harrison Cady.  Derrydale Books, 1906, 1992.  Modern reprint, small format, glossy cover.  VG.  <SOLD>

I posted this response on another board that had the same query, but there was no indication that the poster saw it.  So here goes again:  I found a book called Railroad ABC by Jack Townend (note there's no 's' in his surname), published in 1944. It was adapted from a British book called Railway ABC by the same author.  It's 57 pages with color illustrations, and the size is 11 cm tall and 14 cm wide. Illustrated by Denison Budd. I found several copies for sale, but note that for some reason, the books are in there with the illustrator's name, not the author's.  I also found an interesting picture from this book on this webpage (look at the fourth picture up from the bottom of the page). It shows that "N is a night train running full speed." That seems to have the same rhythm as the A & B - so this could well be it! If you'd like to know for certain before ordering, most booksellers will be happy to look at their copies and can tell you whether it matches your Gram's memories.
Some wonderful person who visits your fabulous website posted a possible soultion to my posting.  Thanks soooo much!

Similar to The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, but not quite....
I solved this one on rec.arts.books.childrens a couple of years ago.  It's The Rainbow Dress and Other Tollush Tales by Ilse-Margret Vogel. "Tollush and her mother live at the edge of a village and are very poor. But with love and imagination, a salt sandwich tastes heavenly a birthday-party dress looks as beautiful as a rainbow a rocking chair becomes part of a magical journey through the sky and pieces of autumn and a forgotten photography make a cherished Christmas gift. Four stories which capture Tollush's world with beguiling warmth and imagination. Author's b/w illus enhance the timeless old-fashioned flavor of this charming little book."  (Thanks to Deja Vu books of Bolingbrook IL for providing such a detailed description!) 

Shirley Jackson, Raising Demons or Life Among the Savages.  sounds like a part of one of these 2 books by Jackson, don't have them available to check.
There is part of a chapter in the Raising Demons book that involves the kitchen, but it has to do with a foul odour that is thought to come from a malfunctioning refrigerator.

Ralph on the Railroad: four complete adventure books for boys in one big volume by Allen Chapman, illus. by Clare Angell and Charles Nuttall, Grosset & Dunlap, 1933.  Contents - Ralph in the round house [sic] / Ralph in the switch tower / Ralph on the engine / Ralph on the Overland Express.  Ralph of the Roundhous: or, Bound to become a railroad man was also published separately by Grosset and Dunlap in 1906.
R68  Allen Chapman, Railroad Series, 1900s through 1920s.  Only one book is called "Ralph of the Round House" (note the break in the last word).  Titles include Ralph of the Round House, Or Bound to Become a Railroad Man; Ralph in the Switch Tower; Ralph on the Engine, Or the Young Fireman of the Limited Mail; Ralph on the Overland Express; Ralph on the Army Train (#6); Ralph on the Midnight Flyer (#7)  Or, the Wreck at Shadow Valley; Ralph and the Train Wreckers (#10).

This story is called Forest Babies.  I have it in an anthology of stories called The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories.  My anthology lists the author of this story as Jean J. Parrish with illustrations by Elizabeth Webbe. The line "Hello, World!" begins the story of  "Buffin Goes Everywhere."  He visits some ants and gets his nose stung. Then he falls out of a tree into a cocklebur patch.  Finally the Mother and Father Bear find him.  My book also includes "Roly and Poly Get Dizzy", the story of raccoon twins and "Little Deer Gets a Name."  I loved this collection of stories as a child.
This story is called Forest Babies.  I have it in an anthology of stories called The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories.  My anthology lists the author of this story as Jean J.Parrish with illustrations by Elizabeth Webbe.
Thank you for solving this for me!!!!  This definitely is the book!  I hope I can find it!!  I remember my parents reading this to me often.  Thanks again!
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The third book was a collection of four stories.  It was a large red, glossy hard back with four pictures of the different animal stories on the front.  One of the stories was about an elephant or hippo who gets his clothes wet and they shrink, another was about a mother cat and her kittens and the first story although I don't remember what it was about it had a picture of a goose carrying long greenish candles with a bunch of other animals to some kind of a party.  I hope you can help me I have been looking for so long. Thank you.

I remember a hardback book that I either had in the 60's or had for my children in the late 70's that was a sort of 4-in-1 book that contained 4 Little Golden Book titles. It had one of those cheap cellophane covers that disintegrated after a few years. The cover showed the complete covers of the 4 books (including the gold bindings.)  The elephant book was The Saggy, Baggy Elephant and I believe one of the other titles was about a "scraggly??" lion.
The story about the lion is titled The Tawny Scrawny Lion. I don't remember the titles of the other two books included in this particular edition, but I believe that all four were originally Little Golden Books.
Would suggest - Favorite Animal Stories, published Rand-McNally Elf Books 1959. Contains these stories: The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane; Forest Babies; Little Bobo and His Blue Jacket; and Mommy Cat and Her Kittens. Little Bobo is an elephant whose blue jacket is shrunk in the wash, and I believe one of the animals in Bayberry Lane is a goose or duck who makes bayberry candles.
A55 animal stories: the Rand McNally book Favorite Animal Stories was reprinted in 1980, and a photograph of the cover on Ebay shows a red book with 4 pictures on it, which include the little elephant Bobo in his blue jacket, and the little chipmunk with his postman's hat and jacket. Unfortunately the photo was too fuzzy to provide clear detail on the other two pictures, but the contents do seem to match up fairly well.
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I believe this was an oversized children's book.  The characters are animals dressed like people.  There is a pig lady who is always waiting for her squirrel mailman by the mailbox.  He feels bad because she never gets any mail.  I remember how sad her face looked!  He and the other animals in the community decide to have a party so she can be invited.  There is a picture of her after she gets out of the tub, and she's drying herself off with a towel.  There's some misunderstanding, and no one shows up for her party.  The other animals save the day by having a surprise party for her. There are other stories in the book too, but this is the only one I remember.

HRL:  This sounds like the Rand McNally Elf Book: The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane by Ian Munn and illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe, 1952 (see Solved Mysteries), which chronicles the travels of a chipmunk mail carrier.  It's small though, so perhaps you remember a larger book anthology that had several Elf books reprinted?
Ian Munn, The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Animal Stories, 1959.  You've got it!  Thank you so much, it was driving me crazy!  I have found a copy and I bought it.  Thanks for your site!
This book was reprinted in 1956 as a Rand McNally Giant Book (40 cm tall).
I had an oversized copy of The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane. It was one of my first books. Still have it, somewhere:)

Rand McNally Book of Favorite Pastimes, 1963.  I'm not sure if this is the book since it includes boys as well as girls, but
here's the description: "Boys and girls in these four stories work hard to master ballet dancing, riding, baton twirling, and swimming."  The four stories are Little Ballerina (D. Grider), Little Horseman (M. Watts), Little Majorette (D. Grider), Little Swimmers (V. Hunter).
Hi,  My stumper was solved!!!  L93- the book is definately The Rand McNally Book of Favorite Pasttimes.  I can't believe that someone  recognized this book from my clues!  I am so happy to have the title.   Now, my quest is to find the book.  Any suggestions?  Thanks, again.

#K27--Kidnapped:  Paperback title is Five Were Missing, author is Lois Duncan, and there's a different, hardcover title, which escapes me at present.
I think this one is The Solid Gold Kid by Norma Fox Mazer and Harry Mazer.  The protagonist is a 16 year old rich kid named Derek Chapman who is standing at a bus stop with four other teenagers when they hitch a ride in a van to escape the rain.  They are kidnapped and held for ransom.
Lois Duncan, Ransom, 1993, reprint. Glad to help!
Pretty sure this is a Lois Duncan book.
Lois Duncan, Ransom. The solution to K27 is Ransom by Lois Duncan, one of her great mystery/suspense novels I read in the late 70s or so.
K27: Could it be Ransom by Lois Duncan?  Five were missing--a terrifying ride into a nightmare! In the beginning it's just another bus ride home from school. But the driver is a stranger . . .
The Solid Gold Kid. I'm not sure if this is it, as I read it when I was seven, and was so terrified I've blocked almost all memory of it.

Barbara Leonie Picard, Ransom for a Knight. (1956)  Alys and a boy servant travel across medieval England to Scotland to ransom her father and brother, taking with them a horse, Blanche, who has a foal on the journey and has to be left behind. Alys takes her dowry, her dead mother's jewellery, to pay the ransom.  They can't use the jewellery to pay for the journey and their money runs out so they nearly starve. The Scottish lord is so impressed with Alys' bravery that he gives her back her dowry and trusts her father to send the ransom when he gets home.
Yes!!! That is it. Thank you so much!  I see that I was mistaken about a few of the details, but that is certainly the story.

Clare Bell, Ratha's Creature, 1983.  This book is definitely Ratha's Creature. Here is the description from the back of the book:  "Conquering the Red Tongue, Ratha claims the flickering creature as her own, for no wild cat before could tame mysterious fire.  But now the bold she-cat must suffer for her triumph:  the jealous leader of her clan orders her into exile.  Banished, Ratha ventures to the enemy's domain, where she must at every turn outwit predators who stalk her.  With no one to protect her, Ratha must gather strength and cunning to survive."  There is a sequel, "Clan Ground," in which Ratha struggles to overcome the tyranny of her old clan's worship of the fire.  According to the book jacket, the first book was made into a CBS Storybreak Special.
Clare Bell, Ratha's Creature.  Thank you so much for solving this.  It's been making me crazy.  I'm going to see if I can find an affordable copy, and then i'm going to re-read it.
This is Clare Bell, author of Ratha's Creature, Tomorrow's Sphinx and others.  I think your site is wonderful!  I just wanted to let you know that Ratha's Creature and the other books in the series are  being reprinted by Viking Penguin Children's Books in the Firebird line, along with a new novel, Ratha's Courage.  They are due out in Spring 2007.  Thanks for including my work on your site.  I thought you might like to check out my new little website.  I'm still building it.

Wayne Anderson , Ratsmagic, 1976, approximate.  "The evil witch steals Bluebird for the contents of the egg she is about to lay. The animals of the Valley of Peace count on Rat to save her." The illustrations freaked me out a fair bit as a kid.  The eyes in the trees were nothing compared to the frozen witch and the Kate Bush/"Never For Ever"album cover-style menagerie of creatures. There was also the repeated phrase, "'Um,' said Rat," that always comes to mind when I think of this book.
Thank you- someone replied and I am almost certain it is the same book- Ratsmagic by Wayne Anderson.  I have googled it and now purchased a copy online, just to be sure.  I am so excited I am calling my sister in italy to tell her!!

Edward Ormondroyd, Michael the Upstairs Dog, 1967.  This is the story of a big German Shepard named Michael who lives in the city in a second-floor apartment.  He is sad because he has to stay inside all day, so the owners put a ladder up to the back window.  Unfortunately, Michael teaches all the neighborhood dogs to use the ladder and they destroy the apartment!  In the end, the family moves to the country. Illustrations are by Cyndy Szekers.
I have re-read the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, and this is not one of them.
#M206--Messy Woman Cleans House:  Anyone know what Pink Like the Geranium, by Lorraine Babbitt, is about?
Pink Like the Geranium : "A Mexican American boy is unwilling to start school until his grandmother changes his mind."
This is definitely not a one-story book. There is a central plot which uses stories told by the central character to give examples of how different people overcome problems, i.e. the dog learns to overcome his fear of stairs, the poor woman learns how to improve her own life rather than blame others for her problems, etc.
this is the same book that is being asked about in book stumper # M-206. It was definitely one of several short stories in a
book.
Jane Thayer, Read Aloud Funny Stories, 1958.  I am the original requester of this stumper. I have since found the book in a box. Thanks for all of your input. Also, I believe this is the same book that is requested in M-55 of the stumper list.
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My wife read the book in 2nd grade.  Sorry the info is so sketchy.  The storyline is of an owner of a house in a run-down neighborhood.  He begins repairing his home and later places a potted geranium on his stoop.  Neighbors begin copying his actions and soon the whole neighborhood is uplifted.  We would appreciate any help you might give.

I'd love to get a copy of this story, which may have been included within a short stories anthology.  It's about a  woman who's a real slantern and can't cope, but someone then gives her a magic geranium, which she puts on the kitchen table.  After that she sees that the table is broken and rickety, and so she fixes and paints it.  Etc. with the kitchen chairs, and then cleaning the kitchen, making curtains ... until the whole house is sparkling new and painted.  At the end of the story her husband comes home to a brand new house and happy, cleaned up wife!

#M55--Magic geranium:  the best-known book along these lines is Miracle of the Flower Boxes, by Peggy Mann, about black and hispanic juvenile gang warriors who come together to plant flowers.  When I was in first grade, my mom sent my friend and I to the library for The Secret Garden and we came home with a book called The Hidden Garden, which proved to be about city dwellers converting a vacant lot into a garden (the stump about the vacant lot into a baseball diamond reminded me of this).  A New Home for Billy by May Justus, also concerns urban renewal.  Don't know whether any of these is the book in question but they are all great stories of urban renewal.
Another book on the same theme is Kate Seredy's A Tree for Peter published Viking 1941 "When lame Peter was given a little red spade it became a sword to fight ugliness and to plant the seeds of beauty and contentment and hope. A lovely story of the transformation of Shantytown from a dingy, discouraged settlement to a town with grass and gardens and white painted homes."
if these are two different books, the first may be - Little Red Flower, by Paul Tripp, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, published Doubleday 1969, 48 pages. "To a dusty mining town where nothing ever grew, except children, came Mr. Greenthumb to live, and in a window sill flower pot he grew a bright red flower. Astounded, the citizens laid the miracle to the man's green thumb (accidentally stained with paint). When he became ill and neglected the little flower, Joseph, the doctor's son was the only one who thought he could save it, and in the process taught the town a lesson."
M55 magic geranium: this is kind of off-the-wall, but The Clean Pig, written and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, published Scribner 1952, 34 pages, has a very similar plot - "transformation of a run-down, broken-down farm after a clean little pig arrives. The "string-bean farmer looking like a mussed-up bed" becomes "a farmer proud as a father", and his wife "dirty as a potato root" is "all polished rosy red like an apple". The grinning little pig now smelled like a geranium!" (HB Jun/52 p.170) Why renovation is associated with geraniums I do not know, but I had to send this because the pig smells like one.
Sniff out those book stumpers, that's what I say...
The Magic Rose Geranium, 50's ??? My copy was typed from the actual book (which I don't own).  Unfortunately, it doesn't have the authors name on it. The story follows the summary exactly.  Here are the last few lines of the book - "May I ask what has caused this remarkable change in our poor old shabby house?" Mrs. Wistful looked at Mr. Wistful. She looked at the rose geranium in the middle of the table. Then she smiled. Mrs. Wistful said, "It is all because of this wonderful, beautiful magic rose geranium!"
Just a title match- Flowerpot Gardens by Clyde Robert Bulla. I don't know if this is fiction or non-fiction.
this is the same book that is being asked about in book stumper # M-206. It was definitely one of several short stories in a
book.
I think we are talking two different books here. The first looks just like Paul Tripp's The Little Red Flower. (Doubleday and Company, Inc.-1968) In the dusty dismal mining town, where no grass, or trees, or flowers grow, there is great debate throughout the town as to what that red and green thing in Mr. Greenthumb's window is! It is a flower! Lines start snaking through town as people walk by to view this phenomenon. Soon everyone' minds are dwelling on this geranium!-children are drawing flower pictures in their classrooms, women are whistling and humming as they scrub and clean-the men with their pick axes down the mineshafts are all dreaming of the flower.  At story's end every home and storefront window has a geranium in it!
Jane Thayer, Read Aloud Funny Stories, 1958.  I am the original requester of M206. I have since found the book in a box. Thanks for all of your input. Also, I believe this is the same book that is requested in M-55 of the stumper list.
Jane Thayer, Read Aloud Funny Stories, 1958.  This book contains 21 short stories, including The Magic Geranium. In this version of the Magic Geranium, it is the kitchen that is transformed by the flower being placed on the table. The woman, Mrs. Wistful, repaints the table, the chairs, the walls, hangs new curtains, etc. The rest of the stories are just as short, cute, and have a moral as well. The author is Jane Thayer, and the illustrator is Crosby Newell.
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Margaret Weyworth Johnson ?  Story of an old lady living in a rickety old house. She receives a red geranium. Displays it on her kitchen table. The red geranium made the table look horrible, so she fixed it up and painted it. This made the chairs look shabby, so she painted them. This made the rest of the kitchen look horrible, so she proceeded to fix up her whole house. End of story is the lady and her house sparkled and flourished all because of the red geranium.  I read this in grammer school and have not been able to locate the book or even the story.

This appears under Solved stumpers. Read Aloud Funny Stories-Jane Thayer, 1958. The story is called The Magic Geranium.

Hello! I am 51 years old (born in 1953) and for at least 25 years I have been trying to remember and then find a short story about a geranium that transforms a woman's house.  Today, as if by magic, I stumbled upon your web site and found "Read Aloud Funny Stories" by Jane Thayer, published in 1958, in which "The Magic Geranium" appeared.  I am SO GRATEFUL to find the short description (below).  After all these years of longing for this story, it is absolutely delightful to know who wrote it and have the ability to locate it on a rare book site and buy two copies.  Thank you so much for this service.  Melinda Hawley

Jane Thayer, Read Aloud Funny Stories, 1958. This book contains 21 short stories, including The Magic Geranium. In this version of the Magic Geranium, it is the kitchen that is transformed by the flower being placed on the table. The woman, Mrs. Wistful, repaints the table, the chairs, the walls, hangs new curtains, etc. The rest of the stories are just as short, cute, and have a moral as well. The author is Jane Thayer, and the illustrator is Crosby Newell.
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I'm looking for a book I read as a child about 40 years ago. A woman was poor and while at the store bought a flower pot. When she brought it home she placed it on the table and realized the rest of her home needed fixed up. She made curtains, painted and worked until the house looked bright and cheery. The illustrations were basic, it seems like mostly black and white and stick type drawings.  Thank you.

Read Aloud Funny Stories (and other versions). This stumper was driving me nuts: I remembered the story very well also, and that the flower in question was a geranium, but nothing more.  So I did a keyword search on the internet and found the solution, believe it or not, right here on Loganberry, under solved mysteries. Look under R for a couple of different versions of the story.

Caroline Kramer, Read-Aloud Nursery Tales, 1957. Hey, I'm the one who printed this in the first place.  I happened to find the answer on another site. The book is titled Read-Aloud Nursery Tales retold by Caroline Kramer and illustrated by Pheobe Erickson. On another site I saw these comments  "An oversized book containing some ten children's stories, the last of which is TMCM(59). Both mice are female and dressed, the city mouse elegantly.There are five lively illustrations for his fable like all the illustrations in the book, they alternate between color and black&white."  This was enough for me to realize that this indeed is the book I was  remembering.  I'm very happy to have accidentaly solved my own mystery.
I sent in a book stumper recently about a book my sister and I are trying to find.  I spoke to her yesterday and she sent you a stumper on it too.  Well, we found the book.  It is Read-Aloud Nursery Tales by Caroline Kramer. Thanks for offering the book stumper area on your web site.  It has great info on old books.  We used it as a starting point for our quest.

Jacobs, Leland B., comp., The Read-It-Yourself Storybook, 1971.  Contents:  The monkey and the bee, by L. B. Jacobs.--Tony and his friends, by K. Wagner.--Emily's moo, by T. Gergely.--Come on! Play ball, by I.-M. Vogel.--Peek-a-boo, by I.-M. Vogel.--Eddie's moving day, by J. Deering.--Too many Bozos, by L. Moore.
Leland B. Jacobs (editor), The Read-It-Yourself Storybook,  1971.  A Deluxe golden book.  Contents: The monkey and the bee, by L. B. Jacobs.--Tony and his friends, by K. Wagner.--Emily's moo, by T. Gergely.--Come on! Play ball, by I.-M. Vogel.--Peek-a-boo, by I.-M. Vogel.--Eddie's moving day, by J. Deering.--Too many Bozos, by L. Moore.  Republished in 1996 with a different cover and possibly interior illustrations.
Leland B Jacobs, Read-It-Yourself Storybook.  This is a solution to my stumper but it was already posted on your site. I found the title in Stumpers Solved soon after I sent my request. I don't know how I missed it the first time I looked. Thank you so much! It's fun to read about the books people are looking for.

Jerry Lucas, Ready, Set, Remember, 1978.  Maybe this one: "Presents systems for remembering the states and their capitals, Presidents of the United States, and the multiplication tables. Also presents techniques for remembering spelling and vocabulary words."  Lucas has a website, and sells the state capital book separately now.  Here's a link to a sample (Arkansas).
My stumper has been solved!!! Yeah!  Thank you so much for this service! How great is that? Now I will be on the hunt for my book armed with the title and author's name.

In the book The Family Nobody Wanted, a true story written by Helen Doss, one of the adopted daughters is named Elaine, and she comes to the family from Hawaii with her half-sister, Diane. I wonder if it could be her story that you are remembering.
Thank you for these extremely significant clues!  I hadn't remembered a half-sister named Diane, but this is now ringing faint bells.  I do think this could be the story, and the 1954 publication date sounds right, but I'm not sure this is the actual book I have in mind. The book that I read was geared for elementary school children, and was mostly comprised of b&w photos. I used to borrow it from my elementary school library. Is it possible that it is another book written by Helen Doss, based on The family nobody wanted, a kind of abridged version for kids?  I did a search and have come up with The really real family which she wrote in 1959. It seems to contain photos, but I cannot verify if it is the story of Elaine and Diane, specifically.  In any event, I do want to read The family nobody wanted.  Thanks again for steering me in what appears to be the right direction!
E72 Yes new poster set me on the track.  I speak of a diff book by Doss:  Doss, Helen [Hellen].  The really real family.    photos    Little c1959. photographs illustrate how orphan sisters, Elaine and Diane, are adopted into the large, multi-ethnic family made famous by Helen Doss' book, The family nobody wanted.
I can verify that the book the poster is seeking is indeed The Really Real Family by Helen Doss, first published in 1959.
Thank you everyone for your clues and your confirmation that the book I was looking for is The really real family by Helen Doss!  From reading the segment where Elaine and Diane join the family, I realised that they definitely were the girls in the book I have been searching for.  However, as I suspected, this is not the actual book, wonderful as it is.

Gene Zion, Really Spring, 1956.  This is a terrific book by the author of Harry the Dirty Dog.  The town paints flowers
and plants all over buildings only to have them wash off in the rain which starts the real spring.

Eloise Jarvis McGraw, A Really Weird Summer,1977.  While staying with relatives who live in an old inn, twelve-year-old Nels finds a secret passageway to a part of the building that no longer exists and meets a strange boy whose family is trapped in a leftover pocket of time.
A really weird summer.  Eloise Jarvis McGraw.  1977 While staying with relatives who live in an old inn, twelve-year-old Nels finds a secret passageway to a part of the building that no longer exists and meets a strange
boy whose family is trapped in a leftover pocket of time.
McGraw, Eloise Jarvis, A Really Weird Summer. NY Atheneum 1977.  I agree with this suggestion. The date is right and the plot description is very close, including names: "Summary: Four children in Oregon spend the summer of their parent's divorce with a little-known aunt and uncle. There 12 year old Nels finds a long-unused room, sees a mysterious image in a mirror, and finds his way into a secret world that is secure and happy." "Isolated during his parents' divorce in a strange old Oregon inn in the care of his withdrawn great-aunt and uncle, Nels retreats from his younger siblings to the happy world of the secret tower. Did he invent his new friend Alan, or is he real?"

I remember reading a story like this (probably an excerpt from your book) in one of my mother's magazines around 1960.  I was fascinated by the large family, and I remember Katie feeling responsible for the others.  Brendan was only about 4 or 5, and I think was injured somehow, which made him quiet and thoughtful growing up.  It was either in McCall's or the Ladies' Home Journal, probably the former as it published a lot of fiction.
Cunningham, Julia    Dorp dead      illus by James Spanfeller    Pantheon     1965     orphan - juvenile fiction; apprenticeship -  escape from - juvenile fiction; England - juvenile fiction; by award- winning author
I just leafed through Dorp Dead, and I think it's fairly safe to say that it is not the book that the original poster is looking for.
Mary L. Wallace, A Reason for Gladness,1965. I believe this is the book asked for. It's about an Irish-American family who lived in Boston. Brendan was the youngest and a separate book called that was about him as a grown-up was published in 1966. They were both in McCall's, as well, I believe.
I submitted this stumper awhile back and just checked again.  SOLVED!  Wonderful. YES!  This the book.  I have been looking for this one for ages.  Thank you so much.'

Josephine and Richard Aldridge, Reasons and Raisins.  "A naughty little fox takes the raisins his mother tells him not to touch and then his adventures begin."
figured it out.... Reasons and Rasins! Now I just have to Google for the author...

Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm  I'm not sure whether you may be recalling more than one book, but the episode with Mr. Ladd and the Excelsior Soap Company is from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (there may also be a bit of New Chronicles of Rebecca in your recollections).
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm The soap-selling scene is from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm I think this is what you are looking for.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm This is a guess, because it's been so long since I've read it. She does live with aunts and she sells 300 cakes of soap to a man. The book is available free online and here is the chapter where she sells the soap.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm. (1903)  The first part of your post does sound like Up a Road Slowly. But the lasr part sounds like Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm.  In chapter 14 Rebecca sells a great amount of soap to Mr. Aladdin. I believe he helps her with college somehow. She lives with her Aunt Miranda.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.  I think some, although not all, of what you are remembering is Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, in which Rebecca leaves her loving but slovenly family to live with her strict Aunt Miranda. In particular, there is an episode where Rebecca and her friend Emma Jane go out selling soap door to door in order to raise money for a poor family. Her spiel contains the fact that the soap is so pure that it could be eaten by an invalid "with relish and profit." They meet a young man called Adam Ladd, whom she thinks of as Mr. Aladdin, and charms so much that he buys her entire supply of soap (and we get a pretty strong suspicion that one day the two will fall in love).
Hunt, Irene, Up A Road Slowly.  I am 100% certain that this is the correct solution for this poster's query. This was one of my favorite childhood books and I have read it so many times that I have huge passages memorized and often annoy my children with random quotes.
Thank you all.  It looks like I was remembering a combination of at least Up a Road Slowly and Rebecca of Sunnybrook (title I had completely forgotten).  Thanks for the reminder!

Nina Bawden, Rebel on a Rock.
Thanks! That definitely looks like it!

Jack Lovejoy, The Rebel Witch.  The Rebel Witch is about a girl, Suzie, who is a witch's apprentice. An evil warlock is about to let loose ghosts and monsters that have been trapped on the alternate world, Veneficon.  The warlock imprisons Suzie's teacher.  Suzie steals the Wand of Necromancers and attempts to stop him and rescue her teacher.  She is aided by twin acrobats (a boy and a girl) and the Wand's Servant, Wumpo, a frog-like man.  Wumpo is at first confused because only necromancers use the Wand to summon him.  Wumpo is a very vain person and is greatly concerned about his appearance and there is a scene where Suzie compliments him on his cloak.  Suzie travels to the alternate world in order to find her teacher and ends up doing battle with the evil warlock.  While the protagonist is a girl, many of the plot elements are similar to the description.
Diana Wynne Jones.  It sounds like her sort of plot, though I can't identify a specific book.
Thank you!  This is definitely the book I was seeking. 

Don Stanford, The Red Car, 1954.  Here's the URL for a synopsis.

Dorothy Lyons, Red Embers, 1948.  This matches many of the elements of the book you are looking for. "This is the story of Phil Blake and her desire to play Polo and train ponies.  She is the daughter of a renowened polo player and friends with the sons of another ex-player.  The story continues with her joining a polo team and seeking her dreams."
Dorothy Lyons, Red Embers.  Perhaps it's this one?   It's aout a girl from a polo-playing family who then goes on tour with a women's polo team.
Dorothy Lyons, Red Embers, 1948.  This sounds like Red Embers by the popular Dorothy Lyons. Not technically part of a series, but one of the dozen girl and horse books she wrote between 1939 and 1973, most with lovely cover art by Wesley Dennis (the cover art for this title also appears in Marguerite Henry's Album of Horses, under Polo Pony). The similar cover art makes many think its a true series, but she had only two recurring characters: Connie in Silver Birch (English pleasure), Midnight Moon (hunter/jumper), Golden Sovereign (western pleasure) and Copper Khan (thoroughbred racing), and Ginny in Java Jive (western and English pleasure) and Smoke Rings (Olympic showjumping and three day eventing). Her other heroines appeared in one book each....Blue Smoke (quarter horse racing), Dark Sunshine (competitive endurance riding), Bright Wampum (rodeo), Pedigree Unknown (hunters/jumpers), Harlequine Hullabaloo - also reprinted by Grosset and Dunlap as Bluegrass Champion (American Saddlebred) and Red Embers (polo). Titles were always the horse's names, and horses were always named based on their color.  In Red Embers, the girl begins riding and training polo ponies on her father's ranch....she and her brothers get up matches with boys on a neighboring ranch, but she is the real pro, with the deepest interest in the sport. She goes on to join a team of girl riders, with international hopes....a great read.

William Mayne, The Changeling. I haven't read it, but it's a possibility. Another, less likely, possibility is The Changeling by Rosemary Sutcliff
Fischer, Marjorie, Red Feather, 1937.  In Fischer's story, mortals are indeed prized for their housekeeping abilities, and
so the Queen of Fairyland wants a mortal maid.  The changeling is made, alas, a little too perfect in every detail, and when interrupted in the swap the fairies can not tell for sure which baby is human and which fairy.  Was the human or the fairy whisked away to work in Fairyland? In which world does Rosemary and in which does Lisa belong?   The Queen does, indeed, inspect for cleanliness by running a white-gloved hand over surfaces she is outraged to find gold dust.
Thank you, thank you, for the solution to my changeling story.  I even remembered the right name, but didn't include it in my request because every time I looked up that title I got something quite different (I think it had to do with Native Americans). Now to find the book.

Hans Christian Andersen, "The Red Shoes,"I have this story in a collection of Hans Christian Andersen's work. It is a short story of only a few pages.
Hans Christian Andersen, "The Red Shoes,"1850. The story you're looking for is undoubtedly Hans Christian Andersen's "The Red Shoes." The publishing date is a guess on my part based on when his story collections and plays were being printed. It's been included in many, many short story collections since then, so its hard to pinpoint the exact book you might have had....if it was an all Andersen collection, it would probably also have included "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Match Girl," "the Little Mermaid" and "The Emperor's New Clothes," among others. "The Red Shoes was also the basis for a movie of the same title, released in 1954 and starring Moira Shearer.
This is Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Red Shoes."  You can find it in any of his anthologies, but if you're looking for an exact book, you'll need to provide more info -- cover description, other stories you remember, etc.
Hans Christian Andersen, "The Red Shoes."There are different versions of this fairy tale, but I think the one you're looking for is Hans Christian Andersen's version.

Marzollo, Jean, Blue Sun Ben, 1984, Dial.  "In a world of two suns, Ben, who is a boy during Red Sun and a chipmunk during Blue Sun, falls into the clutches of the Animal Singer, an evil man who changes people and animals into
shapes to suit his own purposes."
Jean Marzollo, Claudio Marzollo, Red Sun Girl, 1983.  One of my all-time favorite "easy-reader" books.
Marzollo, Jean and Claudio, Red Sun Girl, illustrated by Susan Meddaugh.  NY Putnam 1983. "In a world of two suns, Kiri is the only human being who does not change into an animal each day after the blue sun rises, but a magic ruby and the Animal Singer help her out of her predicament." This is probably it - I read it once, and the Animal Singer is an old woman in the desert. All the people turn into different sorts of animals, and I remember scenes as described. I kept wondering what they ate, and what if one person turned into a predator of another? The book struck me as questionable in several ways. Kiri's family and village are unaccepting of her difference, and she must learn to be the same as them, at considerable risk,
before they welcome her back. The Animal Singer gives her a ruby that keeps her from dying of thirst, and she trades it to another magical person for the ability to transform, but the ruby comes back to her magically, so she never pays for her new ability, nor is it a gift, because the other magical person wanted the ruby and did not return it willingly. When she returns home, no one in her family seems particularly distressed about her having vanished, or the possibility that she might have died of thirst in the desert. I don't demand a moral in children's books, but the morality in this one seemed to be negative!

Betty Stirling, Redwood Pioneer, 1955.  I've been looking for this book for ten years, and I've finally found it.  My thanks to all the inter-library loan librarians who've gotten me copies of books that I thought might be this one.  (The book in my hands today was lent to me in Ohio by the library of Los Angeles State College.)  Unfortunately, it took so long for me to find the book that my own kids are now too old for it... Grandkids, perhaps?

Possibly Ruth Sawyer Old Con and Patrick Viking, 1946, illustrated by Cathal O'Toole. "Patrick, crippled with infantile paralysis, is given two pets by his grandfather, a puppy and a bluejay with a shriveled leg."
Maybe Reggie's No-good Bird by Burchardt, Nellie, illustrated by Harold Berson, published New York, Franklin Watts 1967, 8vo Weekly Reader "A heart warming story about an inner city boy who rescues a baby blue jay and how as the two grow up he finds a purpose for his life."
B54 bluejay: more on one suggested - Reggie's no-good bird, by Nellie Burchardt, illustrated by Harold Berson, published New York: F. Watts, [1967], 140 p. illus. 21 cm. "When the biggest troublemaker in the class injures a baby blue jay and decides to care for it and raise it, he finds himself without the time or interest to get into trouble."

V-6 sounds similar to Bjorn the Proud by Madeline Polland.  I haven't read it for years though, so I'm not sure that's it.  She did write a couple other books about Vikings, I think.  It may be worth checking out!
It's not Viking but Norwegian, but there are points - The Secret Fiord by Geoffrey Trease, illustrated by Joe Krush, published Harcourt 1950, 241 pages. "What happened to their father, a master stone mason who was working on the cathedral in Bergen about 1400, is the problem that the twins, Jillian and Roger have to solve. Escaping from their treacherous uncle, they fall into the kindly hand of Adam Dean, who allows them to flee England aboard his trading ship, bound for Norway. Here they feel the power of the Hanseatic League and also find kindness on the part of the Norwegian people, which eventually leads to a happy ending."
Another possibility, but still not really Vikings - Simon's Way by Margery Evernden, illustrated by Frank Newfield, published Walck 1963 "Simon's search for his father leads him from France to Norway, where he
becomes involved in the struggle for the Norse throne in the 13th century." (Best Books for Children 1965)
Rita Ritchie, Ice Falcon. I've kept coming back to this one for months... I give up. I'll just jump in with this even though I'm not sure. I *am* 100% sure I've read the book described, and Rita Ritchie "feels" right as the author. (I dearly loved and focused on her Mongolian novels, but also read and enjoyed all the rest of her historical fiction I could get my hands on.) I'm not sure if ICE FALCON is the right one--and can't find any sort of synopsis, or even a bibliography, to give me a clue. (Very frustrating!) She tended to use her research in more than one book, which means there's probably more than one Viking-related story out there if this isn't the right one.
Ruth Harshaw, Reindeer of the Waves, 1934.  You can FINALLY put this one to rest!  Cathy, of ExLibris The Lost Boards,  has found this for me and returned a chunk of my childhood to me.  I have cried my eyes out looking at these pages again after nearly 5 decade!  I so appreciate the attempts many of you have made, and did obtain and enjoy some of your suggestions, and just had to let you know the answer!

Hi!  I DO remember this book - think it is at home on my bookshelf.  I am almost sure the author is Edith Nesbit, and the book is The Phoenix and the Carpet or The Carpet and the Phoenix -   the phoenix in the story is quite a grumpy bird.  Hope this helps!
Nesbit, E.  The Phoenix and the Carpet.  Originally, 1904.

Actually I solved my stumper.  And the title is The Relucant Princess, published by Tuttle in Vermont in 1963.  It's a tale from Siam.  I found a copy and it's as wonderful as I remembered. Thank you for responding.

Maestro, Giulio, The Remarkable Plant in Apartment 4, 1973.  "A boy's little green plant causes turmoil when it grows overnight into all the other apartments in his building."
Zion, Gene, Plant Sitter.  I think this might be it.

Rice, Eve, The Remarkable Return of Winston Potter Crisply.  NY Greenwillow 1978.  I think it's this one - "When they discover that their older brother, supposedly studying at Harvard, is secretly visiting New York, Becky and Max decide to do some sleuthing which leads them to a series of rollicking adventures."

Lynn Hall, Riff, Remember, 1970's.  This is the story of Riff, a Russian Wolfhound (also known as a Borzoi), whose owner, a boy named Gordy, is killed.
Lynn Hall, Riff, Remember, 1973.
I'm writing to say "THANKS!!" to whomever it was who remembered the title and author of my book!  I'm so excited.  thanks for your wonderful service--it is very much worth the price.

Check out the poetry of Roger McGough -- he was associated with Peter Max and the Beatles.
John Lennon sketched a bit himself. Possible he illustrated the book you're seeking?
John Lennon, In His Own Write,1965.  Just an idea. I never actually got to read the book, because it was always out at our
library.  It was probably stolen, I realized later.  This sounds like it could be it.
I know In His Own Write is blue...  but I don't have one in stock to look for the quoted poems.
Lillian Morrison, Remember Me When This You See - A New Collection of Autograph Verses by the compiler of Yours till Niagara Falls, 1961. Illustrated by Marjorie Bauernschmidt - black line-drawings.  The size of the book is 5 inches tall by 7.5 wide. The cover is green with an illustration of a boy and girl and flowers. The endpapers are illustrated with black line-drawings of flowers. This book is a compilation of "children's folklore"- playground verses and silly sayings collected by a children's librarian. The original edition contains the "potatoes" verse (repeated in Jennifer Donnelly's "A Northern Light" (2004) as "Never make love in the country the potatoes have eyes and the corn have ears" :-) .  Since you also remember the parody Christmas carol "We Four Lads From Liverpool Are", you might want to try a later edition of Remember Me it may have been added post- British invasion (1964) ; or try one of the author's other compilations. "We Four Lads" was also recorded by the British folk group The Spinners on their 1972 Christmas album, "Sing Out, Shout With Joy" (part of the medley "Kid's Carols") it is also in the textbook An Introduction to Poetry, eds. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

John Brunner, Report on the Nature of the Lunar Surface, 1960.  first published in ASTOUNDING SF magazine for August 1960.   r