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I am not sure how this site works but this was a request for information about Irene Sand by her grandchild.  I am Jan Sand and Irene Sand (Irene Drelich) was my mother and I am curious as to what information I can supply. I have a hunch that the requester was Valerie Sand but I am not sure because, by monstrous concidence, there might be two illustrators named Irene Sand, formerly Irene Drelich.

Could this have been a pop-up book? There was a pop-up Sleeping Beauty published in 1975 by Chatto & Windus, with illustrations by Karen Avery.
S20 sleeping beauty: perhaps too old - Sleeping Beauty, a Peepshow Book, illustrated by Ronald Pym, published Houghton Mifflin 1950. When the cover is tied back, the book forms a 6-sided star with the scenes viewed through frames.
S20 sleeping beauty garden: perhaps The Sleeping Beauty, illustrated by Molly B. Thomson, published Collins Clear-Type c. 1940s. octavo, 18 pages, stapled paperback. A "Kiddie Kut" book, referring to the cut-outs in the illustrations. It's kind of early, though. At least one of the "Peepshow" books was reprinted in the 1970s, so they may be a better bet.
I can't believe someone mentioned the Kiddie Kut books, I have several and they are so wonderful, so beautiful.....I got them as a child in the 50's...mine are falling apart and the two that I am missing that I would love to have are The Water Babies and Sleeping Beauty...I currently have Snow White, The House that Jack Built, Fun in the Frozen North, The Bells of London Town, The Three Bears, Nursery Nonsense, and Jack and the Beanstalk....  before today I  had never heard of any one else knowing of these books..I think as a child I probably looked at these more than any other books that I had, they were just magical, so delicately and wondrously wrought.  I still get them out and look at them sometimes and somehow the magic has never faded. Molly B. Thomson was an extremely gifted illustrator!
I've attached the end page of my copy of The Sleeping Beauty, by Molly B. Thomson. It's published in Great Britain, no date given, but it was mine as a child and I was born in 1968. Not sure where it came from - my aunt and uncle lived in England, though. Definitely cherished, and I thought of it when I read the stumper. This page shows what could be the second to last pages referred - the window arch is shown, but the last page isn't a beautiful garden. Her bedroom looks like a beautiful garden, however.

I can't vouch for this specific incident, but maybe Two and Two are Four by Caroline Haywood, Harcourt 1940, 171 pages "Two children come from a city apartment to live on a farm and two children come from Washington to visit their grandfather, the farmer. Four lively youngsters, two boys and two girls, around six years of age, make this story suitable for boys and girls of five to eight years. Very like B is for Betsy in makeup."
Again, can't vouch for the specific incident, but there's also Puppy Summer, by Meindert DeJong, illustrated by Anita Lobel, published Harper 1966, 128 pages "Two little boys, vacationing at their grandparents' farm, are as carefree - and careless - as the three lovable puppies put in their charge."

Might be Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield.
Well, up until the yellow room with brown trim, at any rate.  If you add a snotty cousin to the mix, that comes a bit closer.
Could S43 be Jacob Have I Loved?
S43 - certainly sounds like Katherine Paterson's Jacob Have I Loved
It may be AMY AND LAURA by Marilyn Sachs, 1966. It was definitely a Scholastic book (although 1966 may or may not be the Scholastic pub. date) Amy, the older sister is outgoing and the younger sister, Laura, is more studious and a bookworm. This web address  has a short booktalk about the book. Perhaps the description will help. However, it's been a long time since I read the book, so I can't remember the physical features of the girls or the room.
#S43--Sisters, very different.  There is a book called Second Best, by Barbara Clayton, about rival sisters.  Like Jacob Have I Loved, it is set on the east coast.  Jacob Have I Loved near the sea in Maryland, and Second Best near the sea in Maine.
Thank you so much for all this information!! Jacob Have I Loved can be ruled out...I'll look into the other two.  I thought this book was gone forever!!  I so appreciate this info!
S43 - I'm wondering about Lowry's A Summer to Die, which starts with the two sisters sharing a room, and the  pretty one gets ill while the 'plain' one makes friends all round the new neighbourhood
A little more on Amy and Laura by Marilyn Sachs, illustrated by Tracy Sugarman, published by Doubleday 1966, 192 pages. "The third book about Amy and Laura Stern develops their sisterhood and their individual personalities. The girls are opposites in both physical and emotional attributes, and each responds in her own way to their invalid mother's home-coming after months of hospitalization. ... Amy - outgoing, impulsive, and a self-determined academic failure - must choose a best friend for the subject of a composition assignment. Laura - shy, sensitive, and a newly-appointed school monitor - wrestles with confusing concepts of loyalty and duty. The setting and the school belong only to the Prospect Park area of Brooklyn, but the anxieties and joys experienced by Amy and Laura are known to girls everywhere." (Horn Book Dec/66 p.718)
I remember a book with this plot from that same time frame. Practially Twins.  The girls were step-sisters, the popular girl's dad married the plain girl's mother.  The plain girl was really the main character.  She was jealous of her step-sister's popularity & set a kind of trap for her--the popular sister copied a termpaper written by the plain one & turned it in--got herself in trouble for plagarism.  In the end they worked out their differences . . . I think it might have been a Whitman book.
Viola Rowe, Practically Twins.  In case this is the book you were thinking of, I saw it on ebay. Viola Rowe also wrote Freckled and Fourteen.  I know I enjoyed both of these books way back when . . . (not really so long ago)
Betty Cavanna, The Boy Next Door, 1950's.  I'm sure this is the answer to the "Sister, very different" query.  The older, plain sister was Jane and the younger pretier sister was Linda.  They were rivals for the boy next door, hence the title.  I also recall Linda wore a charm bracelt and at one point, Jane looks out her bedroom window at night and see Linda and the boy together and gets very jealous.
Lois Lowry, A Summer to Die.  Have you tried checking A Summer to Die?  The older, prettier sister ends up dying of leukemia.  The "reward" at the end puts me in mind of the scene where a photo of the plainer sister makes it into a museum show---she ends up finally feeling a little better about herself & is more confident in her abilities.
The Odd One.  This was a book about two teen sisters, but focusing on the "odd one," the sister with the long straight dark hair.  Her blonde sister was always giving her a hard time.  The blonde one was taking voice lessons or something, because she had to concentrate on speaking from her diaphragm so she didn't squeak.  The dark-haired sister felt very out of place until an older woman (aunt, teacher, family friend?) took her shopping for clothes and showed her what colors looked right with her coloring.
I've been trying to find what I believe is the same book and have not been able to remember the title or author, but I do remember a few other details.  The sisters, I'm pretty sure, were named Debra and Dorie Dark, Dorie being the dark-haired "plain" sister.  It's written from Dorie's point of view, and she describes Debra's beauty as pale and silvery, but not "the least bit insipid, because her eyes are so bright and her lips so red".  Dorie herself is described by one of her teachers as "dark by name and dark by nature" when she is feeling gloomy about Debra always seeming to be more acomplished and popular than herself.  Both girls are serious students of ballet and Debra always gets better parts and more attention than Dorie, but in the end Dorie turns out to be in some way more talented than her popular sister. I'd love it if someone figured out what book this is, as it's been bugging me for years. I read it sometime in the mid 70's, about the same time as I read "Ballet Shoes". It may have been published in the UK.
Jean Estoril, We Danced in Bloomsbury Square, 1967.  The last commenter on this thinks she is looking for the same book, but what she describes is _We Danced in Bloombury Square_.  I vividly remember the names of the fraternal twins, Debbie and Dori (Deborah and Doria) Dark.
Sounds a lot like a story I read, about two sisters, one a cheerleader, the other a basketball player. The basketball player is
able to shoot 3 pointers easily, but is considered unattractive by classmates. She has a crush on the cutest guy in school, and when the guy asks her on a date she finds out that he was dared to do it, as a form of initiation into a club. She goes on the date with him, and it turns out he ends up liking her after all. She was called Mike in the story, and I seem to believe that the name of the book was For The Love of Mike. Don't know the author, I seldom do!
Amy & Laura, 1970?  I remember reading this as a preteen & enjoying it quite a bit.  Amy was the bubbly, curly-haired student having problems with her grades, and Laura was shy and withdrawn, but also on the safety patrol.  She had the unfortunate luck of having to turn in one Veronica Ganz (another book by the same author?)  Their mother had been in an accident and was paralyzed and home after a long stay in the hospital.  I remeber something about AMy and a friend going on a long scavenger hunt on Halloween, and Laura and friends going on an even longer bicycle excursion in the park.  At the end the sisters got into a hair-pulling, biting scratching fight in front of their mother over the fact that Laura had helped Amy with a composition and Amy had taken credit for it.  I hope these details help, and I hope you find a copy.  It was a really nice little book.
VIola Rowe, Practically Twins, c.1968.  The book you are looking for is definately Practically Twins.   The story of pretty Jan and new step sister plain Mary Ann. The author Viola Rowe was an editor for Scholastic Books. It was a hardback book with a mostly white cover.
Hi, what a neat site you have.  I'm wondering if S43, Sisters very Different, could be Tempest and Sunshine.  I didn't see that book listed in the suggestions.  Tempest is the darkhaired temperamental one and Sunshine pretty obviously is the sweet one.  What makes me think of this book is that when Sunshine's beloved comes to call, Tempest fakes Sunshine's voice being awful to someone, maybe a servant.  This cools the lover's ardor and turns him toward Tempest but of course in the end, Sunshine does win out.  I don't know the author but do believe the book might be at least 60 years old.
Amelia Elizabeth Walden, My Sister Mike. This is definitely the book you are looking for.  The younger, prettier, sister helps her older sister, 'Mike' (Michelle) become more popular.  Mike sort of sacrifices who she really is to get the guy that she wants. Not a good message for young girls but this was the seventies!!

There's a famous series of books with black and white photos about a doll named Edith and her bear friends (The Lonely Doll, Dare Wright).
There is the Dare Wright book Take Me Home aka The Little One published by Random House in 1965 and illustrated with photos. However, Susan is the little girl. It's the one with the little naked doll living in the woods. There's also Suzy Goes to Mexico by Mary Carney Thielmann, published by Whitman in 1942, illustrated by photographs. "Suzy is a bisque porcelain doll that two little girls were given by their Aunt Catherine. Each page has real photos of two little girls, Patty and Jo, and their doll Suzy in various costumes they have made for her. Also pictured in real-life photos is Mexico of the 1940s. This book introduces children to Mexico and some of their culture and holiday events near Christmas."
here's another, though less likely because it's English and the photos are colour - Susan and Spotty, by Antonio Colacino, illustrated with 24 colour photographs, published Oxford, Wheaton 1967 24 pages. "Kate sleeps all the more soundly for knowing that her doll Susan and her dog Spotty are safely tucked up in bed with her. Little does she know that her toys have a life of their own, which begins as soon as she is asleep." (JB Oct/67 p.288 pub ad)
Jones, Elizabeth Orton, Big Susan, 1947, copyright.  There is a recent reprint.

I think S57 is A Little Cowboy's Christmas  by Marcia Martin--a Wonder Book.  I have this book and glanced through it tonight.  It's really cute.

Regarding S66-Sea Child: Perhaps if the poster uses the keyword "selkie" she might have more success...
Hi.  I'm the poster for query S66: Sea Child. I looked up selkies to no avail, so far.  I suddenly remembered that the orphan was named Meave (or possibly Maeve).  In doing a search on the net I discovered that Maeve is an Irish heroine and it occurs to me that "Da," what the young people called their father in the story, is also an Irish phenomenon.  However, the book is most definitely NOT a folktale; it's set in the future.  The book also has to have been written before 1987, because I read it in high school.  I hope these scant details will spark a memory in your other readers.

I keep thinking of Poul Anderson's The Merman's Children, but that's not a children's book, and has sex and violence as well as fantasy about the last remnants of Faerie being driven out by Christianity. Other than that,
not a lot to go on, but maybe The sea child by Carolyn Sloan, New York, Holiday House, 1987, 127 p. "A mysterious "sea child" ventures into a nearby village where she meets a lonely nine-year-old." It's just on the edge for the date, though.
Maybe Eyas by Crawford Killian. New York: Bantam Books 1982 "Through the long centuries of humanity's twilight, the People of Longstrand lived in peace and harmony with nature, under the protection of their goddess from the sea. Then she put her mark upon a raven-haired child who would alter their destiny forever -- Eyas, nestling of the hawk."
Perhaps - The Selchie's Seed, by Shulamith Oppenheim, published 1975 "Story of a girl from the "Seal folk" - who shed their skins, & live as humans on land. A fantasy adventure tale of a whale and respect for nature and family. Beautiful illustrations in brush and wash half tones by Diane Goode."
Perhaps - The Curse of Seal Valley, by Joyce Stranger, published by Dent 1980, 122 pages. "The scene is the present, the world of colour television, but in a remote place where emotions are elemental and the savage is waiting just underneath the skin. Hughe lives all alone, nursing his grief at the loss of wife and family and quietly doing good. Among his cares is that of wild creatures which have been damaged in the oil-polluted sea, and one day a strange creature indeed comes into his care, a girl from a distant country, speaking an unknown language. He nurses her back to health and eventually marries her. But the valley is tainted by Gwyn the daftie, retarded and malicious. Gwyn decides that the girl is a seal-woman and that she shall bring bad luck to the village. He plays on the superstitious fears of the villagers and builds up hostility towards her. The ugliness mounts and bursts out into arson and violence." (Junior Bookshelf Aug/80 p.201)
Probably too short, and the child is a boy, is Greyling: a Picture Story from the Islands of Shetland, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by William Stobbs, published World 1969, 32 pages. "A lonely fisherman and his
wife long for a child of their own. One day the man finds a grey seal pup "stranded on the sand bar, crying for its own." Out of pity he wraps it in his shirt and takes it home, only to find that it has turned into a strangely handsome child with grey eyes and silvery hair. Vowing that he should never return to the sea, the foster-parents bring him up as their son. But when the fisherman is foundering offshore in a terrible storm, the boy rushes to his rescue, plunging back into the wide, enveloping sea."
S66 sea child: here's another - Seal Woman,by Ronald Lockley, published Bradbury 1975, 431 pages "Shian was the last of the O'Malleys of Kilcalla, descendants of Irish kings and Vikings. A born naturalist, intuitive and intelligent, Shian could swim long distances with the seals (she had thin webs between her fingers and toes) and she could talk with, and even tame, wild animals. From early childhood, Shian had been told by her grandparents that she was a sea-child born in a seal-cave and that one day a sea-prince would come and take her back to the kingdom beyond the horizon whence she had come."
S66 sea child: not really sf, but there's Marra's World, by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Krystyna Turska, published Greenwillow 1975, 83 pages. "based on a Scottish legend transferred to the Maine Coast, a strange, taunted little girl cared for by a harsh grandmother comes to learn that she is the daughter of a sealwife."
Another long shot on the sea child -- Rosalie K. Fry's The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry (the basis for the movie "The Secret of Roan Inish."   There's an excerpt on the web with part of the legend.
Baird, Alison, The Hidden World, 1999 (darn it!).  If it weren't for the publication date this would be almost perfect: "Maeve O'Connor is 15, wants to be an actress, is not particularly pretty, and is a perennial outsider at her school near Toronto.  To make matters worse her father has just lost his job, her rebellious older brother is driving her parents apart, and to top it all off they have sent her off to rural Newfoundland to spend the summer with her aunt and uncle.  Through a talisman she discovers in a bureau -- and her own fey nature -- she begins shifting back and forth between Newfoundland and a parallel universe of Celtic myth, Annwn, which her grandmother had described in a children's novel. She is befriended by Thomas, an Annwn-born boy of her age and his community, but terror soon grips the land as the evil sea-dwelling Fomori, bent on subjugating Annwn drive forth Thomas' people from their homes. When things are looking bleakest for her friends, she and Thomas mount a bold bid to enlist the aid of the fairy folk."  The heroine's name, the Celtic background, the evil sea  creatures ... but Baird doesn't even seem to have published before 1994. If Maeve's grandmother's book were real, maybe that would be the answer.
McKillip, The Changeling Sea, 1980s. I don't think this is your book, but The Changeling Sea by Patricia Mckillip has a very similar plot, with the genders reversed.  Angler's daughter finds a young man on the beach, who looks very much like the son of the ruling family, Prince Kir, who is obsessed with the sea..  A Sea Dragon is threatening the land.  In the end it is discovered that the found youth  was the real prince, enchanted to be a dragon, and Prince Kir, the changeling, goes back to the sea.

Possibly - Black Bear White Bear, by T. Harriott, illustrated by L. Kopper, published London, Evans 1980, 32 pages "May I borrow a black bear, please? says the white bear who was tired of all the whiteness in his homeland. This cautionary tale is about the two travelling salesmen who changed it all by bringing black dots and stripes to the white land, and white stripes and dots to the black land. Quite how they sorted it all out with the help of a "monstrel" is the subject of this amusing and small picture book." (Junior Bookshelf Jun/80 p.118)
Ted Harriott, illus. Lisa Kopper, Black Bear, White Bear, 1979.  The details don't all match, but I think this could be the one you want.  My copy was a little (British) hardback  4x6in. sounds about right, although it didn't have a red border  the cover showed a black-and-white monstrel (sic).  The two lands both contained bears, and, indeed, they were linked by a telephone wire across a mountain.  I don't have my copy of the book with me, but if memory serves, originally one land contained black bears and the other white bears.  Then a pedlar came to each land, one selling spots and the other stripes.  After trying various things with the new spots and stripes, two bears, one from each side, use up all the remaining spots and stripes to make a monstrel.  Unfortunately the monstrel runs wild and starts eating bears.  Eventually it's down to just the two makers, and they manage to pop the monstrel, possibly accidentally, with a pin left over from when they were sewing it together.  The resultant explosion leaves spots and stripes everywhere, as you say, and everyone lives happily ever after.  If the monstrel doesn't ring any bells, this probably isn't it.
Elsa Beskow, Collected Stories?  This is probably not what you want, but your description reminds me of a short story by Elsa Beskow included in a story collection that in the original Swedish was called "Elsa Beskows sagor" (The stories of Elsa Beskow). This collection includes a story about two villages. The people of one village will wear only plaids, and those of the other only stripes. There is a great deal of tension and rivalry between the two villages. At some point, a Queen suggests that maybe dots would be equally pretty, and they start making dotted fabrics instead.

Has this poster checked out The Secret Garden by Burnett?  There are many similar elements described.
S69 sounds a bit like T39
Philippa Pearce, Tom's Midnight Garden.  1959.  This could be one of the Green Knowe books by L.M. Boston but sounds more like Tom's Midnight Garden.
I don't really think this is it, but just in case ... The Stone Cottage Mystery by Joan Boyle, Toronto, Macmillan 1958 "16 year old Isobel Anderson moves to the small Ontario town of Farston. A broken ankle lands her in a mystery reaching back to the past which had set one Farston family against another." The students in the town's Historical Club investigate clues from old diaries and heirlooms to find a metal box holding papers and a money pouch hidden behind the 'wishing stone' in a stone wall.  Not much evidence, but maybe Seek There by Eleanor Helme and Nance Paul, illustrated by Frank Wallace, published by Scribner, 1930s "A Scotch manor, long-buried heirlooms, two very real children, their aunt, a neighborly man friend and a villain are woven into an excellent story of hidden treasure."
Similar atmosphere - Dark House on the Moss by Constance Savery, published London, Longmans 1948, 216 pages "The Moss, called a peat bog in this country, is fit setting for this English tale of mystery and will-o'-the-whisps. The story has to do with an orphaned brother and sister when they go to stay with an unknown cousin in the north. Here their curiosity is at once piqued by the strange atmosphere of their cousin's house and the attitude of people toward him. Suspense mounts high before the bog breaks loose and the neighboring hamlets are wrecked by the sunken lake it had contained." Title and setting maybe, but Cubs? Sammy and the Secret of Sevenstones by D.E. Booth, illustrated by Kenneth Brookes, published London, Warne, 1956 "All boys of Wolf-Cub age will find excitement reading how Sammy and his fellow Cubs unravel the mystery which surrounds the old manor close by where they are encamped. Suspicion deepens when two Cubs disappear and there are many adventures in store for the boys. Illustrated in line." (Junior Bookshelf Nov/56 publ ad.) And another, by title and atmosphere The Hobstones by Joy M. Bagshaw, illustrated by Geraldine Spence, published London, Chatto 1966 "Four children, looking through old family letters, find references to some puzzling local landmarks: "the Sentinels of Stone" "the Place of Evil". A quest that starts from church registers, old maps in the library, visits to older villagers, becomes a real archaeological discover - and a race before "the fleet of bulldozers come to rip up the moors"."
Could this be The Casket and the Sword, over on Solved Mysteries? There are some resemblances.
If it was only earlier I'd suggest - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, by Jane Louise Curry, published 1975.  "When young Rosemary goes to stay with her Aunt Sibby in Maine, she finds a hidden herb garden that the elderly cat Parsley Sage takes her to and shows her the stones marked Sage, Rosemary and Time (not thyme).when she picks a sprig of the time. Time stops for her & she soon ends up back in the 1700s!." "11-year old Rosemary thinks the word "time" cut into a stone in her aunt's old herb garden should be spelled "thyme" until she picks up a sprig of the herb around it and discovers herself back in the 18th century." Young person visiting relative, old house, hidden garden, words cut into stones, these match, but it's a girl, there's magic, and it's too late.
Mabel Esther Allan, Lost Lorrenden, 1956.  Not all the details are right, but shy Phoebe goes to stay with boy cousins at Lorrenden in Bucks.  She's seen a painting of Lorrenden Manor & wants to find it but, when she eventually finds it, it's all in ruins and hidden. She scrapes away the moss from a gravestone in the grounds.  Jay is the cousin who's supposed to look after her, but she makes friends with a local girl called Cathie.
S69 stone wall holds key: This title sounds almost perfect - The Garden of the Lost Key, by Forrestine C. Hooker, published Doubleday Doran 1929. If only it came with a plot description!
Nancy Bond, A String in the Harp, 1976.  I think this might be the book you are looking for. The main character's name is Peter and he finds an ancient tuning key that brings him back in time. Part of the blurb on the back of the book is "...Peter finds an ancient tuning key that must have belonged to the Welsh bard, Taliesin.... Then Peter realizes he's being pulled back in time, forced to intervene to save Taliesin and return the key." It was a Newberry Honor book originally published by Atheneum in 1976. The copy I have is a paperback Puffin edition published in 1987.
Andre Norton, Steel Magic.3 children are sent to live with an eccentric uncle.  They go on a picnic on an island on his property and go explore some ruins.  Passing through a doorway in a stone wall, they enter another land and are involved in a King Arthur/Merlin/ Camelot kind of adventure.  They had taken a picnic basket with silverware and each child is armed with a fork, or a knife, or a spoon because fairy folk don't like iron tools.
S69 stone wall key: could it be The Key, by Joan Penman, illustrated by Michael Charlton, published Chatto 1971, 88 pages. "Matthew is bored and lonely until one afternoon he discovers in his garden a silver key which
lets him into a secret room and leads him on to surprising adventures. Ages 6-8." (Children's Book Review Sep/71)
Is it possible this is the Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett? Some things sound similar to it, ie., garden wall, finding hidden keyhole in garden wall?  The other possibility that comes to mind is Spiderweb for two by Elizabeth Enright. Two children are sent on a scavenger hunt of sort with written clues.  One clue directs them to an old stone wall, where behind some moss, they find yet nother clue.
L M Boston, Treasure of Green Knowe, 1958.  I know the poster doesn't think this is Green Knowe but it sounds very like "Treasure of Green Knowe".  Tolly visits again  with his great grandmother at an old manor in Britain.  He explores the arden and discovers an old ruined tower covered with vines (with the requisite trap door and fugitive).  He meets other characters as he slides between his time and the eighteenth century.  I'd say the overall tone is a little sad and lonely because his great grandmother needs money and his ancestor Susan is blind and has a silly mother and very spoiled brother.
Nancy Bond, The String in the Harp.  I also think that this is The String in the Harp.  I re-read this a few years ago and remember that it has a very dark and dreary tone in the first part of the book--I think the father has moved the family to Wales from the US and the protagonist hates it and bickers with the family about adjusting until he gets pulled into the adventure with the harp key and all.
The Basumtype Treasure.  Some elements sound like "The Basumtype Treasure" - not sure of the spelling.  I read it when I was in middle school in the early 80's.  I remember a young boy visiting relatives he doesn't know well in what seems to be an English mansion with gardens - I don't remember the circumstances of why he is there, but remember the feeling of loneliness/unsureness.  There is some kind of mystery about a hidden family treasure.  There is a rhyme or something that is passed down from older generations to tell the location of the treasure, but the meaning has been lost. The boy solves it in the end.  The rhyme has something to do with a box and a fox and it turns out the treasure is in the boxwood tree in the garden, which is the "box" of the poem.  The boy, I think, has red hair and there is a portrait in the mansion of a previous ancestor who he bears an uncanny resemblance to.  I think there may be some kind of link through time where the boy goes back in time or sees back in time through some connection with this ancestor he resembles and this connection helps him solve the mystery.
Here's a synopsis of a book I read in 1967 or '68 which may be the book you're looking for - though I'm afraid I don't know the title! My memory coincides with poster of 69, i.e. manor, garden, ruins, wall, message and clue. According to an old prophecy, ancient key stones belonging to houses lost in shifting sands have to be located in order to safeguard the existence of the last surviving house, and the key stones from the others have to be set in place above its door. Our hero is on holiday, staying at that house with, I think, his cousins... I remember that the dust jacket featured a drawing/painting of the porch of the ancient house, with the 3 or 4 key stones shown set above the door.  There's another later book by the same author which uses the same characters, set in a village in Scotland where the cousins live, visited by the hero of the first book. Not nearly such a memorable tale as the other, though it might jog somebody's memory: surely someone out there knows more..!
Malcom Saville, The Ambermere Treasure.   English children with a father who needs to get well. They send their father off to recuperate while they look for places to work. They read an ad through the newspaper and apply for the job assisting two older impoverished ladies. They treasure seek while deciphering clues left years ago. The cover has children kneeling at a stone wall looking under the vine cover.
Malcolm Saville, The Secret of the Ambermere Treasure. English Children stay and work with two elderly impoverished ladies. They solve clues about magpies (I think) to find where the treasure is. Book has cover of children kneeling  before a stone wall.

The Naughty Little Rabbit by Richard Scarry.  Not sure about this but it's a very early (c. 1960) book about rabbits by Scarry. I liked it as a very small child, but don't remember it clearly now but think that it was a more ''typical'' picture-story book in style than his later books.
Scarry, Patsy, The Bunny Book, 1955.  ill. Richard Scarry. Golden Press, 1973.  An Australian Little Golden Book #215
I've never read this book, but i ran across this description of a book on a used book website and remembered your inquiry.  This may fit.  This particular book show is dated 1973 but upon doing further research on google, I found the original copyright date of 1955.
Helen Wing   Illus. by Marjorie Cooper, The Bunny Twins.  A Tip-Top Elf Book.  Twin bunnies (Flipper in red overalls with blue striped shirt, Fluffy in matching shirt and skirt) get dressed, eat breakfast (carrots and peas!), and go to school.  They play on a slide, a wagon, and roller skates.  They also play blindman's bluff with the other rabbit children.  No napping but pictures look very similar the Scarry-type illustrations.  Story is written in rhyme.  Very cute.  Hope this is the one.
DuBose Heyward, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. (1939)  I own this book. You mentioned something about lots of little bunnies in beds, and although there isn't a picture with all of the bunnies lined up like that in bed, there are a whole lot of them. It's an Easter story, and their mother takes the place of a an Easter Bunny that's grown too old. It sounds like your description. I hope you find your book. Oh, and the copy I have is yellow and hardcover, although there might've been a dust jacket that I lost over the years.
Virginia Grilley, The Bunny Sitter.  Maybe, if possibly it wasn't a school but a babysitting service?  I do remember illustrations of the various small animal children tucked in their beds, and one bedroom that had a great number of children (and beds).

Empress not emperor, but this sounds close: The Magical Egg, by Elfrieda Read, illustrated by Alison Green, published New York, Lippincott, 1965 "Ten-year old Kei-lin and a gracious dragon travel through enchanted lands to make a wicked Empress smile and thus save a Prince's life. Ages 8-11." (Horn Book Jan/65 pub ad p.20)
S75 sneezing chinese dragon: And it looked so good, too - found a copy of The Magical Egg, and although it does feature a little Chinese girl and her dragon friend, the villain is an Empress whose heart has been frozen with grief, and Kei-lin makes a dish of phoenix egg to heal her, letting her weep and smile. The dragon is rather comic (his tail falls off) but he doesn't laugh and sneeze, and there are no deaf or mute servants. Well, back to the search.

Marilyn Singer, Will you take me to town on Strawberry Day? 1981.  There is also The Country Fair by Tasha Tudor (1968) about a boy and girl entering a calf, gander and strawberry jam at the country fair. They are both picture books, but I have no further details.
You have probably checked Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski, but I thought I'd mention it...

Not sure of 1940s or 1950s but Enid Blyton certianly had a story collection called Sandman Tales - or something similar.
S80 sandman: There is a picture book by R. Strahl, translated from the German and illustrated by Eberhard Binder, published in England by Brockhampton. Sandman in the Lighthouse, 1968, 42 pages "On one of his regular trips to send the lighthouse keeper's son to sleep, the Sandman loses his boat in a storm and until he is rescued from the lighthouse none of the world's children can go to sleep." (JB Jan/68 p.32)

Some differences, but perhaps: Alison's Kidnapping Adventure by Shiela Stuart, published by Blackie, 1952 "Another fine Alison story in which she and her brothers are up against a new kind of mystery in the Highlands. Who is the visitor to Clarig posing as their big brother Hamish, and what has happened to the real Hamish?" (Junior Bookshelf Dec/52 ad)
Sally Watson, Highland Rebel, early '60's.  Possibly Highland Rebel?  I've forgotten some of the details, like the fathers disappearance (their uncle is taken and hanged), but this book is about Lauren MacDonald and her brother Malcolm, who are active on behalf of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.  Lauren is a semi-tomboy, at least for those days. There's also a boy named Murdoch MacLeod helping the cause, who by the end of the book is basically falling in love with Lauren, even though she's only about fourteen.  The story is full of period detail.
Reminds me of a story called "Quest For A Maid"  Scottish setting,  about becoming a bride, going over seas to collect.
Carol Ryrie Brink, Lad with a Whistle. (1941, approximate)  This sounds like Lad with a Whistle by Carol Ryrie Brink. A favorite book when I was a kid, but it's been a while since I read it. It's set in Scotland, where a wandering boy with a whistle (named Rob?) helps out a brother and sister (Annie?). I think they lived in a castle, and their father was definitely missing. Some people who wanted the estate tried to trick the children with an imposter as their father. I believe Rob helped the children escape. I think they might have visited Sir Walter Scott? They all ended up home in the end with their real father.

I think I've seen this stumper before...
Well, the paper doll part made me think immediately of On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, when Laura and Mary go to visit Nellie Olson but I think the chocolate pudding and street lights probably rule it out. Oh well, its a great book anyway.
This is a long shot, but I wonder if #S85 could be Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.  There are two pairs of sisters in this story, which takes place in the late 19th century, and the younger girls play with paper dolls cut from magazines. They also invent a dessert (so to speak!) called "Everything Pudding."
This is just a guess, but it could be The Pink Maple House by Christine Noble Govan. It's about two 8-year-old girls and there's a part where they play with paper dolls.
S85 sisters early 1900s: it might be worth looking at All About Marjory, by Marian Cumming, illustrated by David Stone Martin, published Harcourt 1950, 148 pages. "Texas in the early 1900s is the scene of this sensitive story of 8-year-old Marjory and her little sister Nancy. The band concert in the park, the stolen dream and Miss Louisa's wedding are among the highlights of their lives. One delightful chapter tells of Marjory's trip to New Orleans and her disappointment when the much-talked of 'fairy' that is to carry  them across the Mississippi turns out to be a 'ferry.' Interesting and unusual line drawings." (HB Nov/50 p.473)
This immediately made me think of Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (who were friends, not sisters) who would play elaborate games with paperdoll families cut from the Godey's fashion catalogs. They were allowed, in nice weather, to take their dinner plates outdoors where they would sit on a bench that overlooked a steep hill where they could see much of the town, and Betsy would make up elaborate fancies, including one where the two of them would sit on pink clouds shaped like feathers, then float away into the sunset - by which time their mothers were calling them home.  At the very end of this book, they make a new friend, Tib; hence the title of the next book, Betsy, Tacy and Tib. The pudding episode was so memorable because the two girls, left alone in the kitchen one afternoon, happily sing as they toss, mix and stir, completely carried away, Betsy's idea of the most wonderful dessert imaginable:  Everything pudding!!

Philip E High, The Time Mercenaries, 1968.  Not a WWII-era sub, but a British nuc boat.  It is sunk in a collision with a merchant.  The boat is raised years later and the crew are animated, zombie-style, as a museum exhibit.  They are then fully revived so that they can help defend against the alien attack.

Avi, Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?  Someone is stealing kids' books from the library. Becky and Toby, using
clues from children's books, find the thief.  I remember this book having a lot to do with maps found in children's books and I think that they relate to the layout of the city.
Just to mention the possibility that Y 23 and the old, VERY OLD!! stumper S 93 might be the same book! If so, we now have
more info to go on! I have been working on this one for eons!!
Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game. In this puzzle mystery, the directions North, South, East, and West figure prominently.

Bernard Miles, Favo(u)rite Tales from Shakespeare. ill Victor Ambrus.  various editions (UK & US). Not quite the set of tales included by the querier, but otherwise, sounds like the book in question.
Thanks for the suggestion, but the book I'm looking for dates to the World War I or Edwardian era. I'm familiar with the work of Victor Ambrus (and like it, and am curious to check out this book)...but it's a completely dfferent one I'm after.
E. Nesbit, The Children's Shakespeare, 1938.  My copy of this contains all the retellings the seeker mentioned, but only b/w illustrations by Rolf Klep, and sounds like it is from a later time period than the book in question.  But I thought I'd mention it anyway, just in case.
E. Nesbit, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children, 1907.
check out the images at this site.   these are Max Bihn's illustrations for E. Nesbit. Table of Contents: Brief life of Shakespeare -- A Midsummer night'\''s dream -- Tempest -- As you like it -- Winter's tale -- King Lear -- Twelfth night -- Much ado about nothing -- Romeo and Juliet -- Pericles -- Hamlet -- Cymbeline -- Macbeth -- Comedy of errors -- Merchant of Venice -- Timon of Athens -- Othello -- Taming of the shrew -- Measure of measure -- Two gentlemen of Verona -- All's well that ends well
S98 shakespearean stories: From about the right date is Children's Shakespeare, retold by Alice Spencer Hoffman, illustrated by Charles Folkard, published Dutton 1911 (reprint 1936). Contents are Tempest,
Midsummer Night's Dream, Much ado, Merchant of Venice, As you like it; Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Winter's Tale, King John, King Richard II, King Henry V, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Cymbeline, Coriolanus, Pericles. There's also Shakespeare Story Book, retold by Mary Macleod, illustrated by Gordon Browne, published Barnes 1905, reprint of 1902 ed. No contents list available, a retelling of 16 of the plays using "as much as possible of the dialogue". Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch published his retellings in 1900, but he only covered the history plays, so that can't be the one wanted.
Lang, Jeanie, Stories from Shakespeare Told to the Children.  Perhaps it is from the "Told to the Children" series? They
are small hardcover books with yellow dustjackets and a mostly red cover underneath with gilt writing. They have colour plates, but I don't remember any black and white. The series contained famous Western Classics (Homer, Chaucer, the Bible, etc) retold very simply. My father had these growing up in England (1950s), but I think they might be from much earlier. They are very much treasured in my family.

Let's try Seatmates. by Mary K. (Katherine "Kate") Reely, illustrations by Eloise Wilken, published 1949. From the jacket: "Seatmates is a pleasant, easy-to-read story about a long-ago little girl in a small midwestern town, but modern little girls will read about Kate and Lily and Tottie with a cosy, today sense of identification. Kate's story took place fifty years ago, but in her small Wisconsin town she enjoyed many of the things that girls today find fun - May baskets and marbles, paper dolls and picnics, church Christmas trees, skipping rope, and diving out to the country with father." Back flap shows b/w photo of Kate & Lily, the "seatmates" of the book, and explains that Kate based the story on her early life on a farm near Spring Green WI. It also shows a picture of Eloise Wilken with her dog. "Anyone who likes Laura Ingalls Wilder or even Betsy and Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace is sure to adore this book."
S99 seatmates: it's not actually called Seatmates, but Bertie and May, by Andre Norton and Bertha Stemm Norton, illustrated by Fermin Rocker, published World 1970, 175 pages does involve girls (sisters) sharing a  desk and is set in Ohio. "The story of a year in the lives of Berie and May is a leisurely period piece: Their father kept a country flour mill; and the girls, always sharing a desk, learned to read and write in a one-room rural school. But times were changing ... after the family was forced to move to the strange town, Bertie and May felt like country fieldmice; their new home, however, meant more friends, a fine large school, and plenty of books to borrow from the Sunday school library." (HB Feb/70 p.42)

Frank E. Peretti, Escape from the Island of Aquarius, 1990.  Don't know if this is right - not everything matches up.  If I remember correctly, a family accidently sails to an uncharted island.  They find that the natives are being oppressed by some sailors who arrived years before.  They eventually have to escape through an underwater tunnel.  Hope this helps! "When Jay and Lila Cooper travel with their archaeologist father to an exotic South Sea island, they find some mighty strange things going on! Could the arrogant, tyrannical leader of the island colony be the missing person they've been sent to find? If so, why is he acting so strange? As the Coopers attempt to solve the mystery, they encounter deadly perils--vicious poisonous snakes, fierce biting insects, bone-crunching earthquakes. The very foundations of the island seem to be jarring loose. Jay, Lila, and their dad must find a way to overcome the evil that holds the colonists in a death grip. But can they do it before the entire island breaks apart?  A thrilling tale filled with adventure, mystery, and sudden danger that will hold readers' interest through the last exciting page. By the bestselling author of This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness."
No - this isn't even remotely similar to what I remember.  I read the book sometime around 1967, if this helps. The parts about the scuba gear and the cave are very clear in my mind. Thanks for the suggestion, though. 

Just possibly - Peachblossom, written and illustrated by Eleanor Frances Lattimore, published Harcourt 1943, 96 pages. "When war came to her home and planes flew over the farm, six-year-old Peachblossom was taken on a long walk to the city, where at last she found school and her aunt and a new home ... Peachblossom, with her doll and the other small treasures she loved, is the same in every essential as little American girls of her age." (Horn Book Sep/43 p.317)
SO FAR FROM THE BAMBOO GROVE is the story of a refugee family fleeing China for Japan.  Very interesting details, but sad. There is a little girl who, early on, has a shrapnel wound to her ear, an older sister and brother, and the mother.  At one point, they are living/sleeping in the railroad station and the mother is quite ill. Any help?

#S104--See #s S69, S81, and V1 to see if any of the titles mentioned there sounds like your book.
Rather a lot of possibles ... Camerons at the Castle, by Jane Duncan, illustrated by Victor Ambrus, Macmillan 1964 "The Cameron family go to stay at Castle Vannich, which the owner is hoping to open as a hotel. There is a local superstition that the tower of Vannich will stand as long as the white hind of Vannich does not leave. It is because little brother Iain (a Downs Syndrome child) is so devoted to animals, and follows Tibbie and her kittens, that he finds the lost room in the tower and the mystery of the white hind is solved." (Junior Bookshelf Nov/64 p.308) Also - The Black Loch, by Patricia Leitch, illustrated by J. Duchesne, published London, Collins, 1963, 192 pages "Kay Innes and her cousins Sara and Edgar travel North to the Highlands to stay with Uncle Vincent and his family at Deersmalen, a dilapidated, castle-like house surrounded by rough country. Edgar becomes the villain of the piece, and for filthy lucre betrays the curious Water Horse of the Black Loch to an animal collector. Kay has been accepted by the household as the future guardian of this strange creature, so she and cousin Jamie ride off through the night in pursuit of the thieves. There is an odd character called Fergus who with his attendant wolves and flowing cloak, can call seals from the water or set everyone dancing with his silver pipe." (Junior Bookshelf Jul/63 p.154) Then again, there's Scottish Adventure by Viola Bayley, illustrated by M.L. Foster, published London, Dent 1965, 172 pages. "The young laird of Moray has been forced by lack of money to let his house to some very odd Americans, while he takes in paying guests in one of the island crofts. While Oliver, Sara and Hugh are staying at the croft they realise that something is worrying Iain Macdonald and offer their help. This leads them into a much more exciting holiday than they had expected as they help to solve the mystery of the lost treasure and the ruthless enemy agents." (Junior Bookshelf Oct/65 p.285)
A few more - Auntie Robbo, by Ann Scott-Moncrieff, illustrated by Christopher Brooker, published Viking 1941, 1959 "Tells of 81-year-old Auntie Robbo who in a mad escape-and-pursuit takes to open country in a tinker's cart with her 11-year-old nephew and some other, strangely acquired, child companions. The evocatively created atmosphere of the Scottish Highlands and of her hastily purchased rock heap of a haunted island strongly supports this unorthodox situation." (Horn Book Dec/59 p.483) Also - Highland Fling, by Sybil Burr, published Westminster 1957. "In this suspense-filled adventrue story, three youngters explore the Scottish island of St. Bride and become involved with a secret hidden in an old tower." (HB Apr/57 p.182 ad)
S104 scottish mystery: maybe The Horse on Ben Awe, by Mel Wayne, published Duell, Sloan & Pearce 1962. "Two venturesome brothers who start a pony ranch in the misty Scottish highlands find a marvelous horse, befriend a frightened girl, and solve a mystery. Ages 12-16." L(HB Apr/62 p.127 pub ad)
Hilda Boden, The Mystery of Castle Croome
Phyllis Whitney, Mystery on the Isle of Skye, 1955.  Could this be Phyllis Whitney's Mystery on the Isle of Skye(1955)? I believe there is a lot of Scottish history, McLeods and McDonalds, etc. woven into the mystery.
Enid Blyton, The Castle of Adventure
Mystery of Mordach Castle by William MacKellar (Follett-1970) or one of his other books set in Scotland!
I would check out some titles by William MacKellar- Mysteies set in Scotland. One title comes to mind- Mystery of Mordach Castle. Follett Publishing Company (1970)
Carol Ryrie Brink, Lad with a Whistle, 1941.  One of my very favorite books as a child, I hope it's the one you're looking for! This description is from the Clan Cameron website:   "Guardian for two children of wealth and gentle birth is an unusual responsibility for a young beggar boy who had earned his living by whistling and playing the drums. But strange events which happened fast brought young Bob McFarland into this amazing situation. Since Bob is a lad of convictions and of resourcefulness, as well as of jolly disposition, he not only wins over the children and becomes their lively playmate, but also circumvents a plot and brings the story to an unexpected and happy ending. A lively, "romantic" story of Scotland in the days of Sir Walter Scott, a land of wandering minstrels and high adventure." 

Another possible is Strangers in Carrigmore, by Meta Mayne Reid, illustrated by Richard Kennedy, published London, Faber 1958, 176 pages. "Colly and Kay McKean, their cousin Charlotte and half-cousin Rosa, become involved in a plot to rob the Museum of Carrigmore Castle of its priceless relics in gold and silver. They are instrumental in placing in charge of the hostel part of Carrigmore Mrs. Warlock, a modern type of witch, who proves to be the moving spirit of the plot. Tiffany the magic cat plays his part as usual, so does the swan who responds to the magic of the hazels which the children hold." (Junior Bookshelf Mar/58 p.71) And another, though probably too late, is The Mystery of Island Keep, by Hilda Boden, published David McKay 1968, 152 pages "YOUNG ADULT NOVEL OF A MYSTERY AT A CASTLE IN SCOTLAND BY THE AUTHOR OF FARAWAY FARM; FOXES IN THE VALLEY; HIGHLAND HOLIDAY; AND MANY OTHER FINE STORIES ABOUT SCOTLAND."
More on the suggested, but nothing conclusive - The Magic Squirrel, published Stokes 1934, 143 pages. "How Petrushka the magic squirrel and his comrades brought happiness to Keera, the little Russian boy who was kind to animals and especially to Petrushka." (BRD 1934)
S105 scottish mystery: And here's another - Scottish Treasure Mystery, written and illustrated by Decie Merwin, published Lippincott 1960. "Janet spends an unforgettable, and at moments dangerous, summer with her
grandparents on the Isle of Skye. Ages 9-11." (HB Dec/60 p.541 pub ad)
Kooistra, Mary Ellen, The Luck of the McElroys. (1946)  The speech in this book is written phonetically and the story features a cairngorm brooch. The book is for younger children and is illustrated in color.

This sounds like Magic Squirrel by N.G. Grishina-Givago
S106 squirrels underground: some resemblance, but not very definite - The Best of Friends, by Josephine Haskell Aldridge, illustrated by Betty F. Peterson, published Parnassus 1963, 33 pages. "The boy Tad and his friend Squirrel admired each other's houses and decided to exchange. Tad had to enlarge his new home to make it comfortable, and Squirrel had to make his more cozy. With the seasons' changes and the passage of time the landscape absorbed the new houses in which Squirrel and Tad were happy alone or visiting each other. Illusrations blue and rosy red wash with black line." (HB Feb/64 p.47)  More on the other suggested, but not much help - The Magic Squirrel, published Stokes 1934, 143 pages. "How Petrushka the magic squirrel and his comrades brought happiness to Keera, the little Russian boy who was kind to animals and especially to Petrushka." (BRD 1934)

This may be too recent, but there's Secrets of the Wolf, by Saranne Dawson, published Dorchester 1998 "An
artist and the ruler of a lost world find love despite the secrets conspiring to keep them apart. Beautiful Amanda Traynor was being followed. As she embarked on a mission to unearth the lost civilization of the Kassids, the flame-haired beauty was rescued from an attacker by a seductive stranger with ice-blue eyes. Hidden deep in the Kassid fortress, shrouded by the mist of the Dark Mountains, ancient legends threatened to quench their flames of passion and destroy the Kassids forever. Together they could save his people, but only if their love was strong enough to survive the mysteries hidden in his piercing blue eyes." Somewhat older is Enchantment, by Kristen Hannah, published Fawcett 1992, 404 pages. "Emmaline Hatter was a beautiful, brillant, and rich Wall Street
financier in the nineteenth century--until the crash of 1893 wiped her out completely. Without friends, family, or money, she decided to take a wild risk and joined Dr. Larence Digby in his search for the treasure-filled lost city of Cibola. Somehow, in a world of enchantment, each would have to learn to believe--to trust the other with their lives, their secrets, and their hearts."There's also The Takers: River of Gold, by Jerry Ahern, published Worldwide 1984, 387 pages. "Josh Culhane, two-fisted adventurer who'll go anywhere, do anything, teams up with the sexy scholar Mary Mulrooney. They battle halfway across the globe, into the Brazilian rain forest; far upriver, the jungle yields its deepest secret: the lost city of the Amazon warrior-women, to a last stand beneath the Antarctic ice cap, where they find an ancient starbase whose builders had never gotten home." Then there's The Sunbird, by Wilbur Smith, published Heinemann 1974, 500 pages "Like his ancestors before him Louren Sturvesant had spent money wisely. He had the financial muscle to fulfil the dreams of his friend Ben Kazin by funding an expedition to a lost city in the red cliffs of Botswanaland and the treasure it would contain. But it is a city haunted by an ancient evil let loose in the distant mists of pre-history. From the dramatic whirlpool of Africa today - big game hunts, terrorism and intrigue - the protagonists of The Sunbird are swept back in time through the battle, romance and tragedy of their pasts in the savage epoch of ancient Carthage."
S112 searching for city: yet another possible, This Fierce Splendor by Iris Johansen, published Bantam 1988. "Scottish beauty Elspeth MacGregor travels to Hell's Bluff to hire Dominic Delaney to lead her to the magical lost
city of Kantalan, but at first he refuses ... the last thing he needs is to join a virginal scholar on a dangerous quest. But Elspeth's fiery will coupled with her silky hair and milk white skin prove irresistible, and Dominic acts ... first with angry lust, then with a searing yet tender passion that brands her eternal soul and bonds them both to a heated and turbulent future.  Through wonders and tragedy, across the untamed splendors of Arizona and Mexico, Elspeth and Dominic draw closer to their dual destiny: to experience the dark mysteries and magnificent riches of Kantalan ... and to fulfill the promise of lasting love and the birth of a bold family dynasty."

Two things to check right off the bat: Maud and Miska Petersham's Miki series, and the D'Aulaire's Ola.  They're surprisingly similar books in age, artistry, and ethnicity, but of course very different.
Another author to try - Selma Lagerlof
S124 scandinavian old man: this was suggested for another stumper, but perhaps better here - Grandpa's Maria, by Hans-Eric Hellberg, translated by Patricia Crampton, illustrated by Joan Sandin, published Morrow 1974. "An award-winning author tells this sensitive, funny story of a seven-year-old girl left in the care of her grandfather (HB Oct/74 p.204 pub ad)
I suggest this only because it wasn't already mentioned!  Madame Spyri, of course, wrote Heidi, but Charles Tritten eventually produced two sequels, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children -- so a library might possibly have had all three books.
Martha Inez Johnson, Singeli's Silver Slippers, 1951.  This story, translated from the Swedish, is anthologized in The Golden Books Treasury of Elves and Fairies (Jane Werner, editor).  In it, a shoemaker sews a pair of silver slippers for his daughter that protect her from harm and lead her to her prince.
Patricia St John, Treasures of the Snow.  Could this be it? I haven't read this book for a long time, but your description of your book made me think of it. It takes place in the Alps. The main character is a girl named Annette. She lives with her (possibly widowed?) father or grandfather and younger brother.
More on the Heidi Suggestion. I believe Heidi's Children has a big revelation involving a ring that was lost under a stone. One of Heidi's kids finds it and it proves that Heidi's friend is actually her relation (cousin?). I remember the little child keeps saying "Schoen, schoen" or something like that to mean pretty when she finds the ring.

S126 set at convent: a couple of possibles - Quiet as a Nun, by Antonia Fraser, Norton 1977, with the detective being Jemima Shore, who is also featured in a short story set in the convent school. If the detective is a nun, there is a short series by Veronica Black, with Sister Joan as the detective.
Dorothy Gilman, Nun in the Closet.  I'm not sure if the plot matches, but a very funny short mystery about two nuns is "The Nun in the Closet" by Dorothy Gilman (author of the Mrs. Pollifax books).
Nunsense.  There's a musical entitled "Nunsense" that has many of the elements you describe.  I don't know if it was originally a book.  If it was, it would certainly not be for children.  It's very funny, and many of the nuns become sick after eating poisoned fish.  I believe the original Mother Superior dies from the fish and has to be replaced.  One of the nuns has Amnesia and cannot remember her name, if that helps.

The Aminal or Zagazoo.  Could this be The Aminal about a little boy who says that he has an "Aminal" and the other children imagine and animal with all these different body parts, and then it turns out to be a turtle? Or could it be Zagazoo by Quentin Blake where a baby that a couple have turns into all these different creatures representing the phases of a child's life?
This sounds like a popular children's book when I was a kid-aprox 1970's. I don't know the title or author but the plot involved a small bird-perhaps a crow? who was not happy with his body and coveted the other animals bodies. He ended up by asking the animals that he met one by one if they would trade with him until he ended up to be very strange looking indeed and could not eat or drink. He then had to give back the body parts and on the last page he was a crow again and happy to be one. Hope this helps.
S129 still can't figure out: perhaps The No-Sort-of-Animal, by Mary B. Palmer, illustrated by Abner Graboff, published Houghton 1964, 48 pages. No plot description available, though.
I don't know the title of the original request (though I can see a picture of an alligator with small wings in my head so we must have the book in our library somewhere), but I think the other book described here is What Kind Of Bird It That? by Mirra Ginsburg, Crown, 1973.  A goose trades with other birds and gets Crow's wings, Crane's legs, Peacock's tail, Rooster's comb & wattle, Pelican's beak, and Swan's neck.  Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to eat, swim, and get away from the fox.  After his geese friends rescue him, he trades back with the other birds, and "He became a goose like all other geese, but now he was wise and kind and never envied anyone again."
S129 still can't: perhaps, Lord Rex, the Lion Who Wished, written and illustrated by David McKee, published Abelard-Schuman 1973. "the story of a lion who wished he had wings like a butterfly, a trunk like an elephant, a parrot's tail, a kangaroo's hind legs and a giraffe's neck - and acquired them all. Lord Rex's appearance becomes more ludicrous on every page until on the last page, after a final look at his hybrid self in the pool, he wishes himself back to lionhood. Deliciously absurd." (Children's Books of the Year 1973 p.22)
S129 Might be You Look Ridiculous, Said the Rhinoceros to the Hippopotamus by Bernard Waber, c1966 Houghton Mifflin...  also reprints '73, '79 and '99. Black, White, Green, Red Hippo was perfectly happy wallowing in some mud until grumpy rhino tells looks ridiculous because no horn. Other jungle animals agree, but because no spots, flappy ears, etc. Cute!
In case you have remembered the animals incorrectly-- In a Dick and Jane reader (New Times and Places) there is a story of three animals (rabbit,cow,dachshund) wishing they could be three other animals (giraffe, owl, duck). THEN, voila: a GIRabbit, a DUCKhund,a COWL). Story taken from a book by Challis Walker called Three by Three (Coward-McCann-1940)
Me Too Iguana. This may be a long shot, but the Me Too Iguana book was part of a series of books featuring animals with stories to teach lessons. Me Too Iguana is about Imitating Iguana, who sees other animals and tries to imitate them till the other animals show her that being herself is most important.  Some of the other animals were Capable Camel, Zany Zebra, Responsible Rabbit and so on.  All the names were alliterative.
The Scroobious Pip.  A book about an animal made of many different parts.  Maybe in rhyme.

Sister Mary Jean Dorcy was known for her lovely black silhouettes cut from paper. She illustrated some Catholic books with these silhouettes and also was an author (but not might be the author of this particular book). Maybe an online search with her name as the keyword or illustrator will come up with a title. Good luck!
Your suggestion about Sister Mary Jean Dorcy was excellent. Her style and subject area seem like a perfect match, as shown on various web sites discussing her work, but none of the books mentioned was the one I sought. So I wrote to her student and artistic heir Dan Paulos in New Mexico. He kindly responded, but said none of her 26 books matched my description. My only remaining hope, assuming her to be the creator of the silhouettes I recall, is that he may not have known all of the books she illustrated for other authors.  The search continues.  Thanks again for your help.
Joan Windham, Saintsseries, 1930s.  Could it be Joan Windham? I have a reprint of Saints by Request first published in 1937. There were also "Saints specially for boys" "...girls" "...upon a time" "...you have asked for" "six o'clock saints" The illustrations are I think woodcuts but very simple blocky black & white". Publishers Sheed & Ward.
I just included in an order a follow-up to a long ago inquiry to Stump the Bookseller - after which I successfully navigated the site and found my old question (S130) still in place. The last suggestion was about Joan Windham’s British books on saints.  I remember her books well and know that her breezy style and format were not compatible with the book I am still looking for.  I have combed the LC catalog, and even started a poky search of the LC’s microfiched copies of publishers’ annual lists for the period. (I was dismayed to find that “Books in Print” did not begin until the late 1940’s.)  While I did not find my book, I did find some funny long-forgotten titles, including the saccharine “Tom Playfair” and “Percy Wynn” which, along with “Helen’s Babies,” were read aloud to us by old Sr. Remigia when teaching 35 fourth-graders got to be too much to deal with.  The only Catholic publisher I found in that time period was Benziger.  Sheed & Ward came along later.  If you know of any others, including British ones, I’d appreciate any suggestions.  Thank you.
Just a note - St. Edmund Campion was not canonized until 1970.  In the 1930's he would still have been Blessed Edmund Campion so your book title might have something more than just Saints in the title - Heroes, for example.

I believe that this is one of the Uncle Wiggle stories. I say that because the description conjures up a very strong image of an illustration of the beast in question biting into a pincushion.  The story was one of many in an anthology I had as a child back in the 1950's or 60's. I think the author is Burgess (Thornton?) -whoever wrote the Uncle Wiggly stories.
It could be one of Thornton Burgess' Uncle Wiggly stories...  there are so many, though...
S135    Maxwell, Arthur Uncle Arthur¹s bedtime stories  Vols 13-16 [or Series 13-16]
Thorton W. Burgess was the author of many animal tales such as the Tale of Reddy Fox, Blackie the Crow or Old Mother West Wind, these were stories meant to impart knowledge of how different animals actually lived.  Uncle Wiggily was written by Howard R. Garis and was clearly a fictional story character.  I don't remember any character with a name like the one you mentioned.

More information on this stumper is promised, but in the meantime, it does make me think of Margaret Bloy Graham's Be Nice to Spiders (Harper & Row, 1967).  It's a little boy's pet spider who is sent for safekeeping to the zoo, where she quickly saves all the zoo animals from flies and other pests.  The spider's name is Helen, and her original owner's name was Billy.  Might also want to investigate Edward Gorey....
Cresswell, Helen, Meet Posy Bates,illustrated by K. Aldous.  Oxford, Bodley Head, 1990.  This is the only book I've seen yet which has a girl with pet spiders. "Posy longs for a pet, but Daff (Mum) has banned them, so she makes do with Punch and Judy, who are spiders, and Peg the Leg, a stick-insect. Their lives are short, so their names are given to a succession of replacements as the originals die or are swept away in one of Daff's cleaning sessions." Posy gets a magic bobbin (thread spool) from the local "bag lady" which helps her when she organises a "green" pet show in which Punch and Judy and Peg the Leg feature.
Schwartz, Ellen, Starshine. (1995)  A possible, since the original poster hasn't come up with more information to rule it out. "Starshine Bliss Shapiro has a problem: her name. What's worse is that she might not go on the grade four camping trip because of a squabble with her parents. But Starshine has a plan involving her hobby--spiders--and the help of her best friend Julie Wong. Now if only her pesky little sister doesn't foul things up ..." Sequels are Starshine at Camp Crescent Moon, and Starshine on TV. The American Association of Arachnology is featured. Her pet spider in the first book is Goldie, a Nephila spider that accidentally arrives in a box of papayas.

Verna Aardema, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples' Ears
S139 Sounds like it could be WHY THE SUN WAS LATE by Benjamin Elkin, illustrated by Jerome Snyder, Parents Magazine Press, 1966. It's a retelling of an African folktale in which a series of events, starting with a fly, causes a bird not to sing and so the sun doesn't wake up. ~from a librarian
S139 sun slept late: if this poster is also incorrect about it being a fly, it could be Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, on the Solved list. If the memory is correct and it is a fly, it could be Why the Sun Was Late, by
Benjamin Elkin, illustrated by Jerome Snyder, published New York, Parent's Magazine Press 1966, unpaginated. It starts with the fly landing on a dead tree, which topples with a crash. The fly thinks he did it, and tries to push two boys out of another tree. When a boy swings at the fly, he instead knocks three squirrels out of the tree, which startles four snakes, who slither off into a herd of five elephants, who rush madly into a hill, knocking six eggs out of a nest. The mother bird says "Now my heart is broken, too. Never, never, never shall I sing again." Without the bird's song, the sun is not awakened. The Great Spirit has to look into it, and retrace the story, until he comes to the fly, who is too embarrassed to answer and just buzzes. Or it could be Why Flies Buzz, retold and illustrated by Joanna Troughton, published Blackie 1974, 30 pages. "In this Nigerian cumulative tale a fly buzzing round a boy gathering palm nuts in a tree sets off a series of reactions that ends with the guinea-fowl neglecting to call up the Sun. Obassi, Lord of All Creatures, decrees that the fly shall lose its power of speech as a  punishment."

Hi again,  In looking over the new listings, I have a glimmer of an idea about S143 -- The Selfish Giant.  In 1973, I had to translate a children’s story about a Selfish Giant from English into French for a school project.  I routed through my attic and found only the photocopy of the story.  It was from the March 1973 Reader’s Digest and was adapted from the Oscar Wilde story.   Perhaps if the original Reader’s Digest could be located, it would point the direction of the book.
Just carrying on the Readers Digest thread - my daughter had, in the 1980's, a two volume set of stories that I am almost certain were published by Readers Digest.  I remembered them as being fairy tales, but it may well be that some of them were versions of classic stories, like the Selfish Giant and Water Babies (the chimney sweep?)  The covers were turquoise, with pictures on them, and I am surethe stories were illustrated throughout.
Hilda Boswell (ed.), Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Children's Stories, 1971.  This was a Christmas present from my grandparents in 1973 (I was born in '68). Published by Collins UK.  ISBN 0 00 12030 4 5. It is a large format, not very fat hardback with chocolate brown cover-background and montage of illustrations from the stories inside, as described.  It contains "The Selfish Giant" with lovely illustrations, and personifications of Snow, Frost, Hail and the North Wind.  It also contains an extract from Kingsley's "The Water Babies", hence the chimney sweep the reader remembers.  All the other 16 stories in the book (whose sub-title is "A New Anthology of Stories for the Young Personally Selected and Illustrated by Hilda Boswell") are either classic Andersen or Lang fairytales, or extracts from children's classics including Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and Spyri's "Heidi" - there is also a bit of David Copperfield in there.  I very much hope this is it - it certainly sound likely.  If so, this is an extraordinairy coincidence  I just happened to be looking through it with my son the other night, and re-read "The Selfish Giant" for the first time in about 25 years - if I hadn't, I would not have recognised the description.  And I happened to visit this website for the first time looking for books by the French authors Alain and Denise Trez.
I think that might be it.  It certainly sounds right.  If only I could see  a photo of the cover, I'd know for sure.  And if that's the book, I'd be  thrilled if Loganberry could locate a copy! :)  Sorry I haven't checked back in so long...I had given up!
Check this website.  They may have the book you are looking for. http://www.stillmanbooks.com/childrensbooks.htm
The Lost Half Hour.  This was an anthology of translated european stories.  It included a story call "The Selfish Giant", also "The Lost Half Hour" and one I remember about a pumpkin headed giant.  I have it somewhere and will try to get more info for you.
I believe the story of the Selfish Giant was read on the BBC Radio 'Children's Hour'. A recording of this reading exists, and was later issued on a BBC Radio Collections Audio Cassette. ...

Werenko Ross, Clifford Ross, It Zwibble, Star-Touched Dinosaur.  Th books in this series were written to accompany some Gund toys:  Dinosaurs with stars on their heads and diaper-like pants.

You might ask customer if she read it in a collection, or as a sepaarate book. [I think we know each other well enuf now that I may no stop to corect ALL of my typos.]  And if she remembes any ref to a snowmaiden or snow maiden, because it turns out that it is that story -or a version of it - sneg, it seems is Russian for snow.  Another thing is that most refs on Google spell  it Snegurochka, without one of the o's.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, "Carson of Venus" series.  Burroughs, better known for Tarzan, wrote a series of early science fiction/adventure books about a spaceman on Venus: "Pirates of Venus", "Lost on Venus", "Carson of Venus", and "Escape on Venus". May possibly be what you're looking for.
Rockwell, Carey, technical advisor Willy Ley, Revolt on Venus: a Tom Corbett Space Cadet Adventure.
NY Grosset & Dunlap 1954.  This doesn't seem like a bad match for date and subject. "Three Space
Academy cadets on a vacation to find a tyrannosaurus on Venus find another surprising adventure instead."
Robert Heinlein, Space Cadet, 1948.
I appreciate the suggestions for my entry "S154," but they are not the book. I'm very familar with the Burroughs and Heinlein books, and also have the Tom Corbett series.  The requested book is, I think from before 1954, and starts off from a space station from which the two explorers leave for Venus, only to crash and be forced to  survive by their wits.

Robert Silverberg, Revolt on Alpha C, 1955, copyright. Did you rule out this book? It doesn't take place on planet Venus, but it deals with a tropical, jungle planet populated with dinosaurs.

Joseph Greene, The Forgotten Star.  1959.  This was the first book in the "Dig Allen - Space Explorers" series.  Two brothers whose family had moved to a colony on the moon meet up with the title character, who is searching for his missing father.  They eventually find him being held prisoner by a tribe of humanoid aliens inside an artificial asteroid. Apparently, this was the only book in the series that made it to paperback.  I got my copy in the early 70s via my school's book  club.
Robert A. Heinlein, Universe, 1940.  My husband said it could be this one, or one with a letter-numeral title by Brian W. Aldiss, which came out in the early sixties. Drat!  I forgot to ask him to tell me again the title!
Brian W. Aldiss, Non-Stop, c.1960. I called my husband and he gave me this title.  I was thinking that since Robert A. Heinlein wrote using child protagonists more, it would be his, but it could be this one.
I wanted to say for number s155 that the book I suggested as a solution, Non-Stop, is called Starship (in the USA). I loved the last two books I received from you.  I will keep reading the book stumper in hopes of remembering other favorites from childhood.

I also seem to recall that one of the stories was "The Bremen Town Musicians," which has a happy ending, but for some reason, this version focused more on the fact that these animals had outlived the original usefulness and had run away from their homes before they could be killed by their owners.  (or, maybe I was just having a bad year at school, and focused on the sad parts of everything!)
I sent in the original query.  Lately I have remembered another detail from this book.  One of the characters, either in a story, or as one of the storytellers, was called Birdeen.  I think it was a flicker (type of woodpecker?).

MacLachlan, Patricia, Sarah, Plain and Tall, ca1982.  Any chance this is Sarah, Plain and Tall?  Sarah from Maine, answering an ad for a mail-order bride, brings seashells with her to the midwest.  She shows them to the two children and they listen to the conch shell. In the book, Caleb (the youngest child) mentions that Sarah can hear the sea  in the movie version, he actually says something to the effect of "Sarah has brought the sea."

Robert A. Heinlein, The Roads Must Roll, June 1940.  This short story, featuring moving sidewalks and roads, was first published in Astounding Science Fiction, and later collected in the anthology The Man Who Sold The Moon which is currently published by Baen Books (ISBN: 0671578634)
I was away and had not checked the website for awhile, and today I discovered that the stumper I had posted, S166, had been "solved."   But I do not believe that it has been correctly solved.  The book I was remembering was a children's PICTURE book from that period (late 40's, 50's), not a short sci fi story.  So.  Is there anyway to put the book back on the not-yet-solved list?  Thanks.

The only 'sardine' story I could find is The Runaway Sardine by Emma L. Brock (Alfred A. Knopf, 1945, c1929).  Sorry, no description.

Runyon, Damon, Johnny One-Eye, 1940s.  Just a guess, but in this story, a wounded gangster (Ringo?) is holed up in a decrepit building, where he is befriended by an injured cat whom he names Johnny One Eye. It doesn't bring him food, but the little girl who owns it finds him while searching for the cat, and it was her stepfather who both injured the cat and shot the gangster. Ringo gets the little girl to carry a message that will bring her stepfather to him, and uses the cat as a distraction. The cat and stepfather are killed, the police arrive, and Ringo (dying by now) tells the police to make sure the little girl gets the reward money and to buy her a new kitten "with two good eyes".

James Street, The Grains of Paradise. (1955)  I recognized this description immediately, but checked out my old copy of the textbook "Encounters" to be sure.  I'm certain that this is a match, right down to the ending.  Copyright held by "The Curtis Publishing Co.", and reprinted by permission of the Harold Matson Company, Inc.  "Encounters" (General Editor G. Robert Carlsen) ISBN # 0-07 009904-9 My copy shows copyright to the text is held by McGraw-Hill Inc.  I re-read the story before I wrote this - It's as good now as it was the first time that my 2nd form teacher read it aloud to us!

#S178--Square King made round people square:  Sounds like a book version of the 1960s song "Little Boxes," by Malvina Reynolds.  Here is a link to the lyrics.
Walt Disney's Surprise Package, 1944.  This book has a story in it called "The Square World" where members of the society of all shapes are put into a machine that makes them square. They all come out looking the same.
I52 has to be related to S178, the stumper about the square king.  I initially thought this had to be something from an Oz book, but the international stories don't really fit.
Various, Walt Disney's Surprise Package, 1944, approximate.  I Googled "Mighty Highty Tighty" because it was the only name I remembered from a wonderful Walt Disney book I received as a child. Up popped your website and a reference to WD's Surprise Package, circa 1944.  I probably got it for my 5th birthday in June of '45 or maybe even Christmas of '44.  It had many, many short stories and poems and I believe the originals stories for "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and "Lady", which was turned into the movie "Lady and the Tramp". The written story was much better! It would be fun to find a copy of the book. At least now I know what to look for. Incidentally, the Mighty Highty Tighty, upon seeing that all the little kids looked like regular kids and not squares, had a hissy fit and threw himself off his reviewing balcony and that was the end of that!!

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Season of Ponies.  This may be Season of Ponies. No unicorns in the story  but magic multicolored ponies.A a girl is given an amulet? necklace? by her father before she's sent to live with relatives in the country. She meets a mysterious boy (Ponyboy) who refuses to exchange names and calls her "girl". At one point she learns circus tricks/acrobatics.
Jane Yolen, The Transfigured Hart.  I can't my copy so I can't be sure, but this rings a bell.  If memory serves, the main character is desperate to find a unicorn in the woods, waits and waits for one to appear and believes it does.  There's another character, a boy - they don't trust each other at all at first, eventually form a relationship.  The unicorn may or may not be a hart ...
Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn.  Just a thought.  Could this be The Last Unicorn?
The reader's description doesn't sound even remotely like The Last Unicorn.  There are no children in TLU, and the plot is different in every detail.
Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse,1946.  Could be The Little White Horse (which turns out be to a unicorn), about an orphan Maria Merryweather - see a book report here.
Fantastic site that I stumbled across today and has already helped me re-discover some long-lost, much treasured childhood classics! Thank you! This stumper is ringing bells with me, but I can't for the life of me remember the name of the book or the author. Read it many times back in the early 80s, a blue paperback with a unicorn on the cover in white rays of light. Something to do with a lost? black? unicorn. A girl goes on holiday to a seaside resort and befriends a boy who is being bullied by local boys, they discover a unicorn trapped in ice?stone? in the hillside and they first use their hands to try to melt the stone and release the unicorn and then realise that the 'narwhale horn' above the fireplace in their rented holiday home is a unicorn's horn and that speeds up the process to free him and let him find safety before the baddies find him. Hope this rather random memory helps someone!

#S183--Secret (or Mystery) of the Blue Grotto--probably Blue Treasure; the Mystery of Tamarind Court.  Helen Girvan, Illustrated by Harriet O'Brien, first published in hardcover around 1937 and in paperback by TAB/Scholastic around 1961-1966.  Neither threats nor Bermuda hurricanes stop the tantalizing search for the "Lost Vermeer."  The author wrote several other juvenile mysteries, at least one of which was about a missing painting, so the Praying Pines one is probably by the same author.
J. Clayton, The Blue Grotto, 1931.  "Besides this complete novel, this issue also contains other works of fiction with
various true detective stories as well. This ever so slick production illustrated with photos is among the scarcest of all mystery/ detective magazines. So uncommon are they that often the fiction and essays within were never printed anywhere else let alone in book form."
Only Blue Grotto story found so far is one on eBay- The Secret of the Blue Grotto by Kelman Frost ( Thomas Nelson+Sons- 1964) It looks like a YA book, it takes place in Capri.. Can't find it listed anywhere else!

E. Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle.  In this book a group of children bring a garden of statues to life with (I think) a magic ring.
S184  This sounds like The Court of the Stone Children by Eleanor Cameron.
E. Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle, 1907.  The children in E. Nesbit's "Enchanted Castle" -- Gerald, Cathy (aka Puss Cat or
Scratch Cat) and Jimmy -- come across a girl with a magic ring that gets them into all sorts of (mis)adventures. At one point, Cathy turns into one of the statues that come alive at night in the castle's magic garden. Some of the statues (whose favorite pastimes are swimming and feasting) are Phoebus Apollo, Hebe, Aphrodite Urania, Hermes, Hera, Eros, Psyche and Ganymede. A pencil comes into play in a couple of instances, most strikingly when the person using the pencil is invisible.
Eleanor Cameron, The Court of the Stone Children, 1973.  I'm not sure if I'm right on this one, but if I am, your mother is remiss -- this was a 1974 National Book Award winner (not to mention an extremely famous author).  "Who is Dominique?  When Nina first sees her in the French Museum, she senses there is something unreal about the strange, beautiful girl.  In fact, Domi is from Napoleon’s time, and she has come to get Nina’s help.  For Domi’s father was executed as a traitor during the French Revolution, and Domi is convinced that Nina can prove his innocence.  But to save Domi’s father, Nina will have to
solve a mystery that has lasted two centuries.  And she will have to travel back through time, back to France and the court of the stone children…"
E. Nesbit, ?  I remember this too, but I can't think of the title.  I'm fairly sure it was one of the many books written by E. Nesbit, but a search didn't bring up a title and description that fit.  And her books are old and sometimes hard to find (I think she died in the 1920s).  If it is the same book I'm remembering, the author used the phrase "in their marble" to describe how the statues were alive but still made of stone - as in, they were moving "in their marble". And yes, they were in some kind of elaborate garden.
The Stone Garden.  I seem to recall this title, but I don't remember any other details.
I've read all the books listed, but the clue doesn't quite fit any of them.  The title of  the last E. Nesbit "book" (actually a short story is "Man-Size in Marble" and is creepy as all get-out.  Enchanted Castle seems closest, though.
How about Jane Louise Curry's The Sleepers?? 1968. stitch in time-King arthur and knights.
LEWIS, C.S., the magician's nephew.  Digory and Polly meet and become friends one cold, wet summer in London. Their lives burst into adventure when Digory's Uncle Andrew, who thinks he is a magician, sends them hurling to…somewhere else. They find their way to Narnia, newborn from the Lion's song, and encounter the evil sorceress Jadis (by bringing to life a lot of statues)
C S Lewis, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. (1950 approx)  Once Aslan comes takes Susan and Lucy to the White Witch's castle, he goes around breathing on the statues in the courtyard, who are all creatures, including figures from Greek mythology like centaurs and fauns, who have been turned to stone.
I agree with the solution of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe for this stumper because I think Edmund scribbles a mustache with a pencil on one of the stone statues (a lion, thinking it is Aslan?) and then feels guilty when the lion comes back to life because the mustache is still there (or maybe still feels guilty but the pencil mustache is gone).
Catherine Storr, Marianne's dream.  Could it be Marianne's Dream? Marianne is sick in bed and finds a pencil to draw with. She draws a garden, house and boy and that night dreams about him. It was also a tv programme in the 70's. Quite frightening as the stones around the house come to life!

Leland B. Jacobs, The Read It Yourself Storybook, 1971. This sounds like a book my mother still has. It is a compilation, not written by Richard Scarry which could be why you haven't found it. The first story is about a monkey who gets stung by a bee. There is another story where a lot of coloured balls end up on one side of a wall & in the lion story - he loses his hair & the birds make him a new mane. It is published by Golden Press N.Y.

Edward Ardizzone, Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, 1936.  Could this be it?  Follows the adventures of a stowaway boy, including his friendship with captain and crew and near shipwreck during a violent storm.
S195 Little Tim and the brave sea captain does not have those words in it, unless the Scholastic copy has been censored. Otherwise, the story fits.
Thank you so much for trying. We are mystified...how did we dream up that title and the long remembered words? Maybe we made a few things up as we read...can't get my memory clear about that.  I guess we'll try to find the book you've mentioned and see if it is THE book. You are doing a wonderful thing!  Again, thanks for trying. I wish I could read everything on your site. Will try again, see what I get.
Thank you for your kind response to my request # S195 re stowaway child.  I'll check the library for Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain to see if  it's indeed the same story we're thinking of. Or, perhaps you have had more news since our last communcation. You are performing a great service to all bibliophiles.

Maud Hart Lovelace, The Trees Kneel at Christmas, 1951.  A brother and sister visit a Brooklyn park on Christmas Eve
to see if an old Lebanese legend is really true: that "the trees kneel at Christmas."

S197: Roller Skates?
The part about sisters going to Europe reminds me of the What Katy Did series by Susan Coolidge (in What Katy Did Next, Katy goes to Europe).  Or it could even be Little Women, although that's set in the 1860's.
Alcott, Little Women.  This sounds very similar to Little Women. Four girls living at the turn of the century, one goes to europe...possible anyway.
Sydney Taylor, All of a Kind Family.  Sounds like a possible match: "Meet the All-Of-A-Kind Family [five girls] -- Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie -- who live with their parents in New York City at the turn of the century."
Maud Hart Lovelace, Heaven to Betsy. Betsy and the Great World, etc., late '40s, early '50s.  This is just a possibility -- the "older" Betsy books from the Betsy-Tacy series (the ones with Vera Neville's illustrations, not Lois Lenski's). The time frame and level of detail are right, and Betsy travels in Europe in 1914 and has to come home when WWI breaks out  in "Betsy and Joe" her older sister Julia goes to Germany to study opera.
I think Susan Coolidge's Katy series looks promising. The five books about Katie Carr and her family are: What Katy Did (1872), What Katy Did at School (1873), What Katy Did Next (1886), Clover (?) and In the High Valley (?) The family circle seems to consist of father (a doctor) and a group of sisters: Clover, Elsie, Katy, Cecy and -Johnnie (girl? boy?) The first 3 Katy books were reissued by Puffin in 1986- I just happened on one today! Quick intro to What Katie Did Next--"Three years after returning home from Hillsover boarding school to the small American town of Burnet, Katy Carr receives an unexpected and thrilling invitation- to go to Europe for a year with Mrs. Ashe and her young daughter, Amy." (An interesting note -Opening pages mention that some adventure of Johnnie's was detailed in Nine Little Goslings.) I hope some of this rings the right bell for someone!
Margaret Sidney, Fine Little Peppers and How They Grew, 1880.What about the series of books about the Peppers? they are not all girls but some prominence is given to their "little brown house". There is no father in this series if that detail helps.  A later book in the series is Five Little Peppers Abroad in which the girls, their mother and some family friends do a grand tour of Europe.

S206: Stop It, Moppet? (Or Moppit?) It's about a clumsy Easter bunny.
Stop It, Moppit! by Geraldine Ross, McGraw-Hill, 1959.

S207 I guess it wouldn't be my old favorite The counterpane fairy by Katherine Pyle
Dahlov Ipcar, The Calico Jungle. Guessing...

From the Glencoe Library Reference desk:  I checked with our children's librarian and another librarian who has lived in Glencoe since the 50's, both of whom have been at the library for many years. Neither of them is able to think of any title which might fill your memory requirements.  It is unlikely that something like this would have slipped by the longtime resident. I wish I could be more helpful. If I should stumble across anything later I will let you know.
Or perhaps try the Glencoe Historical Society;  377 Park Avenue;  Glencoe IL 60022;  847-825-2638.  The Society has limited capability to research individual questions.  As far as I'm aware, they do not have e-mail capability at this time.
Anne Emery, Dinny Gordon series.  This series featured a group of teenage girls and are set in a northern suburb of Chicago.   There were 4 books in all, one for each year in high school.

Elizabeth Goudge, The Valley of Song?? I apologize for the vagueness of this possible lead, but maybe it will jog someone's memory, yea or nay (I lost this book many years ago after having read it only once or twice): Valley of Song is one of Goudge's less common books, and I don't remember the plot, but retain an impression that it was in what I think of as her "metaphysical" category (I know there was something about the signs of the zodiac) while having the old-fashioned scenery/mood ("quaintness") of her children's books like Linnets and Valerians or The Little White Horse. The time travel rings a faint bell also.  Another possibility might be one of Charles Williams' novels -- they're from roughly the same time period ('30s and '40s?) and even more metaphysical. Good luck!
Eileen Goudge, Swept Away series.  Well, there's a time-travel/romance series by _Eileen_ Goudge with about six books
or so.  I haven't read them, so I don't know if they're what you're looking for, but you might consider taking a peek at them.
I'm the person who suggested this might be Valley of Song.  If it's any help, there's a partial description of that book at M33.
Ethel Cook Eliot, The Wind Boy.This is a long shot, because the searcher only appears briefly at the end of the book, but could this be The Wind Boy? The line about the rainbow is: "And immediately the name Detra shone out from him in rainbow lettering! It was his joy that made the rainbow, of course, for it was just printer's ink for ordinary eyes." The story centers on two children, Gentian and Kay, who are refugees in a little town (very quaint) and, with the help of their unusual servant Nan, travel to the clear land above their own to play with the children there until they are able to be friends with the village children. The Wind Boy was recently republished, so if this is it, it should be relatively easy to find.

This sounds a bit like Adopted Jane by Helen Daringer although I do not remember Jane getting a scolding for not airing bed. I believe she is the sole child taken in by the woman.
S233 I just skimmed the whole book, Adopted Jane, and I feel sure it is not the right one, although she might enjoy it.
The description reminds me of the opening scene of Understood, Betsy! because that story (as I recall) involves the city girl thinking she is too good for the family, but finding out that she's got a lot to learn in the way of chores, getting along with others, etc.  Hence the constant "Understood, Betsy!" chiding from her hostess.

Phyllis Whitney's Secret of the Emerald Star (1965) has a mention of snowball bushes. They surround the home where Stella lives with her grandmother. Stella is blind and lives next door to the main character, Robin. I don't know if this is your memory but snowball bushes are found in this story!
Maud Hart Lovelace, Emily of Deep Valley.  Emily lives alone with her grandfather and they have snowball bushes in their yard.  These figure in the story because her grandfather wears them in the veteran's day parade.

#S239--Short Stories with lessons for kids: Arthur Maxwell, Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories.  Widely reprinted and readily available, it used to be a standard in doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms
I sent in a Book Stumper #249 (Short stories for children with lessons) and got a response of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories.  That is not the one I recall.  My stumper did not have religious references or Christian messages.  It was just stories with morals that make sense to young children.  It was not illustrated and had to have been published in the late 1940's or early 1950's, at the very latest.  I purchased Uncle Arthur's book and it is totally wrong.  Thanks
Arthur Maxwell, Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. (1941)  From her description, the book has to be Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, unless someone has copied or plagiarized some of the stories for a different book. "The Hollow Pie" and "I Can Sleep On Windy Nights" are definitely part of the Uncle Arthur collection. Perhaps she's forgetting the Christian elements because they came across as unintentionally mawkish, e.g. "Jesus Understood", in which a boy runs into traffic, is hit by a car and dying
 another boy tells him Jesus visits the ward at night and advises him to raise his hand for help, finally helping him prop up his hand with pillows. "In the morning the little hand was still there. Bobby was dead, but Jesus had understood." In another story, Maxwell compares bad behavior to a broken radio and analogizes Ezekiel's "heart of stone/ heart of flesh" to replacing radio tubes, warning young readers that Jesus will have to "get rid of" people who don't accept Him. Other stories include siblings who start a secret company to help others, and a little girl who's craved a doll for Xmas but, receiving it at a party, spies a beggar child looking in from the street and immediately gives her the doll. It's possible that there were different editions of Uncle Arthur over the years which were heavier or lighter on the Christianity depending on the mood of the times.

S252 Try looking up 'lynx' in A-to-Zoo, reference book which catalogs titles by animal.
Virginia Parsons, Lots and Lots of Bedtime Stories, 1971.http://openlibrary.org/books/OL5447447M/Lots_and_lots_of_bedtime_stories

Catherine Woolley, Libby Shadows a Lady. (1974)  This is definitely Libby Shadows a Lady, the 4th and last of Woolley''s Libby series.  But the woman Libby, while on Easter vacation in New York, overhears on the pay phone is actually talking about a bombing involving the Federal Reserve Bank, not the U.N.

A Little Old Man.  Little old man lives in house on tiny island, wishes he had company.  Storm washes house out to sea, but boat with completely stocked cabin washes in to become his new house.  As luck would have it, boat also carries cat with kittens.

I have this story in a book of short stories about Christmas. Unfortunately, it's packed away in my storage building, but I believe it is "Ten Tales of Christmas". I searched online and from the titles it would seem to be "A Christmas Tree for Lydia" by Elizabeth Enright. When I get a chance I'll get it out and make sure.

Bill James coined the term Sabermetrics for studies such as the one described and wrote several books providing statistical evidence, for example, that with a runner on first base, a sacrifice bunt is almost always the wrong strategy.  There are no James titles as early as the '60's, however.

Not a full solution, but the hint that her name may start with "A" makes me think this may be a story about Atalanta, a woman in Greek/Roman mythology.  The tale usually told concerns her legendary racing speed, but she also appears to have helped demolish a boar that was terrorizing her town.  Definitely an early feminist type.
Jay Williams, The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales, 1978.  I think this is The Practical Princess by Jay Williams. The version I have is in a book of short stories, but I think that it was first published as a picture book.  Princess Bedelia does not want to marry old, ugly and wicked Lord Garp so she sends him on two quests, one of which is to bring her a cloak made from the skins of the salamanders who live in the volcano of Scoria.  She manages to avoid marrying him because she is so practical.
Babette Cole, Princess Smartypants, 1986.  This sounds most similar to the plot of Babette Cole's "Princess Smartypants", but the publication date of that (1986)is later than you seem to be thinking.  Another possibility is The Practical Princess by Jay Williams (1969), in which the Princess Bedelia uses common sense to accomplish a series of tasks too difficult or dangerous for the princes who want to marry her.
Sounds like the late Jay Williams' story The Practical Princess, from the 1970s. It shows up in more than one collection of his. I remember misinterpreting the father/king's saying "I don't think much" of the fairy godmother's gift of common sense because I thought he meant "what's so great about common sense as opposed to genius?"
Robert Munsch, The Paper Bag Princess, 1973.

S281 sounds like I53, Silly Will.  Perhaps putting clues form both requestors together will help solve the mystery?
I think I know the book you're asking about.  The name of the story you're referring to is "Silly Will."  The book contained other stories such as "Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The Ginger Bread Boy," "The Lion-Hearted Kitten," The Cap that Mother Made," and "The Little Boy Who Tried to Obey."  I really wish I could tell you the name and publisher of the book, but unfortunately, the pages that contained that information in our family's copy are missing.  The illustrations almost look like Tibor Gergely's work, but no way to tell.  Wish I had more info.  I'm hunting too!
I have the story "Silly Will" (by Lucy Sprague Mitchell) in The Golden Book of Nursery Tales (A Big Golden Book) (c)1948. This book  is illustrated by Tibor Gergely, is approx. 9x11, 146 pgs, 45 stories including 3 Bears, 3 Billy Goats Gruff, Magic Pot, Bobo and the Roast Pig, City Mouse & Country Mouse, Cap That Mother Made, Pelle's New Suit, House That Jack Built, Chicken Little, etc.. The copy that I have is a hardcover version w/ a dark blue cover, showing a girl sleeping in her bed, characters from various stories floating above/behind her, like she's dreaming. I know you're looking for a softcover version, but it still might be this book - I know it was reprinted several times, w/ slightly different cover art.  Maybe one of the editions was a softcover?  Hope this helps!

Duvoisin, Roger, Spring snow, 1963.  A farm couple, their house and all of their animals get covered by a spring snow. A two page spread is entirely white. But since it is spring the snow melts fast and the illustrations show different animals, people and house emerging from the melting snow.
The suggestion that Roger Duvoisin's book is the solution turned out to be wrong. I found that book and checked it out and was disappointed to find it wasn't it. The one I want to find has a page with birds on a branch covered in the spring snow very disgruntled I might add. Thanks anyway.

Langstaff, John, The Swapping Boy, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush.  NY Harcourt Brace 1960.  I'm a bit dubious about this one, since the date is just too late and it doesn't match entirely, but since it's all I've been able to find so far ... "Based in an Appalachian Mountain trading song. A young boy who lives alone except his two hound dogs goes on his horse to London to find a wife, trades the horse for a cow, and on and on goes the trading. The song, Swapping Song, with the sheet music is on the last page."
I have investigated the John Langstaff book and it is not the one I am looking for but thank you very much for the suggestion.
A possibility from the 50's -Was it a Good Trade by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers??
Thank you very much for this suggestion. I had not heard of this author before but having researched the book, Was it a Good Trade, I find that it is not the one I am looking for.
Chase, Richard, Jack and the Three Sillies.NY Houghton 1950.  Another possible. Jack goes off to market to sell the cow, but keeps swapping down for other animals until he returns home with a rock. His wife sets out to find three people more foolish than her husband.
I am very grateful for this suggestion but having looked at a detailed description of the tale, "Jack and the Three Sillies", I can confirm that this is not the book I am looking for.
Pat O'Shea, The Hounds of the Morrigan.  Something like that happens in this book -- it may have only been at the end, though, so it's probably not the one you're thinking of.
Thank you very much for this suggestion. I have researched the details and while it appears to be a very enjoyable book , it is not the one I am trying to find.
Try Peter Dickinson's "Weathermongers" trilogy
Thank you for this suggestion. Unfortunately this book appears to have been written many years after I encountered the book I am trying to locate.

This doesn't match exactly, but reminds my of The Tortilla Cat, by Nancy Willard. The cat does make the children well, but not by licking.  Held off posting, since this is a bit of a longshot, but no one seems to have other ideas ...
Paul Gallico, Jennie.  Any chance this could be one of Paul Gallico's cat books?  "Jennie" does feature a cat on a sickbed, but most of that book is the imaginary adventures the boy & the cat Jennie have before he comes out of his coma; the cat doesn't really "lick him back to health"...

I recently saw a fabulous copy of Crockett Johnson's Time for Spring (1957) that includes a snowman who promises to return next winter...  but the rest of the details here do not match.

Betty Cavanna, Joyride.  This is a really long shot...it's a high school story that takes place in the 1920's, but the main character is named Susan.  I'm pretty sure one of the boys in her class is named Norman and he's sort of a nerd.

Winterfeld, Henry, Star Girl. NY: Harcourt 1957.  I'm inclined to think that the poster is mixing up two memories. There was a 1960s cartoon show called The Funny Company featuring a little girl called "Shrinkin' Violette" who shrank when she felt shy or embarrassed (you can see pictures here). The other memory might be the Winterfeld book Star Girl, about Little Mo, who falls to earth and is helped by earth children.  There is a book called Shrinking Violet about a little girl who comes out of her shy shell when she is cast as Lady Space in the school play - but that was only published in 2001!

Something about the description reminds me of the stories written by Manly Wade Wellman. Worth a look?
Or a Frank Edwards book? He was a radio talk-show host who wrote several collections of stories like that (his most famous is Flying Saucers, Serious Business). So did Brad Steiger in the 60s and 70s. I have read elsewhere that zombies can be "brought back to life" by eating salt. It is part of Haitian tradition. Since according to some recent reports, zombies are actually live people who are drugged, maybe there's something in salt which neutralizes it.

Norman, Lilith, A Dream of Seas, illustrated by Edwina Bell.  Sydney, Collins 1978.  Not positive about this, because the date is later and the setting is Australia, but the plot sounds close: "It was a dream that drew him back to the sea, for the sea was the only world that washed them all: the boy, his drowned father, and the newborn seal cub. An original and compelling mixture of reality and dream, alienation and belonging, as a lonely boy is drawn, relentlessly, to his destiny in the enfolding sea."
Thanks for trying, but this (A Dream of Seas) isn't it.  The book definitely took place in New England, USA, and it had to be published in the '60s 'cause that's definitely when I read it.  It was on the shelf at the same time as another book I should put on stumpers, in fact I think I will, about a young boy in medieval times who is befriended by a knight who is eventually beheaded.  They were both new books around the same time.  Back to S-308, I don't remember any characters except the boy, his uncle who didn't say much, and seals without names: wild, mysterious creatures who accept the boy's presence and lead him to another state of being.  It was a young adult's book, probably too eerie for everyone but me.  If we can find the other book, which I think was written by a more well-known author, it might lead to the right time period to find it in publication records.
Could this have anything to do with the movie, "The Secret of Roan Inish"?
Waters, John F., Seal Harbor, illustrated by Robert Quackenbush, Warne 1973.  Again, this may be too late, and not much plot description "the life story of the harbor seal, a 13 year-old boy is lonesome when he and his family move to the coast of Maine." "The lives of the harbor seals on the Maine coast interest a thirteen-year-old boy new to the area."
We have Seal Harbor, and it doesn't fit the description given.
Thanks for the two worthy attempts, but no solution yet.  The story was about a lonely boy who moves, by himself, to live with his lonely uncle who proceeds to ignore him.  Roan Inish isn't it, but after reading a description of the movie I think I will go rent it.  Thank you.
Far Voice Calling by Margaret Adair (1964) involves seals.

Huxley, Brave New World.  It's probably too far off, and definitely not a childrens' book, but the rating system does remind me of Brave New World, where the smart people, the Alphas and Betas, did the jobs requiring the most brains, and the Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons did the "grunt work."
Piers Anthony, Split Infinity/The Blue Adept/Juxtaposition, 1980 and after.  This sounds so close to the Apprentice Adept series by Jack Chalker that even though I know it was published in 1980 (not 75 like the original requester said) I had to bring it up as a possibility.  Stile is a serf on Proton.  The Citizens of Proton run everything, the serfs compete in series of games to better themselves.  Each year one serf can win everything and become a Citizen.  Once Stile becomes a citizen he discovers that the gaming goes on and with each win he controls more of the Citizens of Proton.  About half the storyline is about the parallel world Phaze where the best gamesters translate into the best magic users.  I know it's a stretch but the description of the contests just strike a chord with me.

Pat Wallace, The House of Scorpio. This is the House of Scorpio by Pat Wallace long out of print as far as I know.
Pat Wallace, The House of Scorpio. I realized I should put some more information about the book  there are 6 sisters who live in a country where your sign of the zodiac determines what you will look like, what you eat, the colors you wear, etc.

Betty Cavanna, Fifteen, 1955.  Could it be Fifteen by Betty Cavanna?  The charcaters live near San Franciso possibly.  The girl is Jane and the boy is Stan???
Seems like I remember sweaty palms in Fifteen (the boy’s) and Jean and Johnny (the girl’s) by Beverly Cleary although neither exactly ended badly.
Is it possible that this is the Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary?  Or maybe Jean and Johnny, also by same author? (Doesn't really sound like Fifteen by Beverly Cleary, as the ending is not the same as the one described)
I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you, but Fifteen is by Beverly Cleary.
Mary Stolz, 1950s.  I can't identify your book specifically, but another fine author dealing with a similar age group and similar subjects is Mary Stolz, whose work for Young Adults seems almost forgotten now.
Try the Judy Blume books for young adults.  One of them definitely has a scene in it where a young, tentative couple hold hands and the girl is acutely aware of sweaty palms.  I can't remember which Judy Blume book it is, but her books are easy to find, so I think it's worth checking out.
A Special Place and Time. It may be a Special Place and Time--I'm not sure who wrote it but the girl carries around a smooth stone that she picked up the last day of a summer vacation as a talisman and I believe she lets him hold it in his sweaty hand when they meet at her first highschool dance when they are both hiding in the coat closet.  That love interest does end badly for her in the end after she pines for him for all of her high school years.  She is obsessed with the song Mr Tambourine Man and with the idea of being a better person instead of the awkward person she feels she is.  It does take place during the fifties or sixties because she talks about wearing pale lipstick and a poorboy sweater or skirt.
Mary Stolz, To Tell Your Love, 1950. This was Mary Stolz's first book.  It focuses on Anne Armacost's long seventeenth summer, during which she slowly learns how to recover from her romance with Doug Eamons (the romance is portrayed through a long flashback).  Secondary characters include Anne's older sister, Theo, and younger brother, Johnny, as well as her friends Nora and Sam, who are struggling with an early marriage and new baby.

Henry De Vere Stacpoole, The Blue Lagoon: A Romance, 1908.  The book is much better than the 2nd movie with Brooke Shields or the earlier one circa 1949. A sequel exists (The Garden of God, 1923).
Another possible answer to S319 is Nathalia Crane's THE SUNKEN GARDEN.  Crane (1913- ?) was a child prodigy who had this 250+ page novel published (in 1926) while still in her early teens.  It's not a great book, but it's readable and certainly an incredible performance for a twelve- or thirteen-year old.  In fact, this was her third published book (preceded by two poetry collections).  She later published other poetry collections and at least one other novel, AN ALIEN FROM HEAVEN (1929) but then fell silent.  She may well still be alive...   More on Crane: here and here.

Since no-one has answered, I thought I'd take a shot at this. It may be MORE ADVENTURES OF SPIDER by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst, 1972 (possibly 1974 too), Scholastic Book Services. It has several stories about Spider based on West African folktales. Spider is a trickster and often gets into trouble. I looked through the first one (THE ADVENTURES OF SPIDER) but none of the illustrations had creampuffs. Unfortunately, I could not find a summary of the stories included, and I don't have a copy I can check. Maybe your local library...? The other possibility is the Spider books by Robert Kraus. I knew them as individual books, but perhaps they were published together at some point? And I can't recall a cream puff book, but you know how memory can be... These books are more cartoony. Spider has two best friends, Ladybug and Fly. The titles include (and there may be various publication dates) THE TROUBLE WITH SPIDER, 1962, HOW SPIDER SAVED CHRISTMAS, 1970, HOW SPIDER SAVED EASTER, 1988, HOW SPIDER SAVED HALLOWEEN, 1973/1980, HOW SPIDER SAVED SANTA BUG, 1989, HOW SPIDER SAVED THANKSGIVING, 1991, HOW SPIDER SAVED THE BASEBALL GAME, 1989, HOW SPIDER SAVED THE FLEA CIRCUS, 1991, HOW SPIDER SAVED TURKEY, 1981, HOW SPIDER SAVED VALENTINE'S DAY, 1985, HOW SPIDER STOPPED THE LITTERBUGS, 1991, SPIDER'S BABYSITTING JOB, 1990, DANCE, SPIDER, DANCE, 1993, SPIDER'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL, 1987. I hope this helps!~from a librarian
Just a suggestion-Spider Jane by Jane Yolen. It was published in 1978 and it contains 4 stories. It's a possibility.

I'm sorry I don't know the title of the story, but I can tell you that it is an old Bohemian folk tale and is most often found in collections of Czech or Eastern European folktales.  In 2002, a Czech filmmaker even made a very bizarre and grotesque film based on this story.  The film is called "Little Otek" in English, and although it is set in the modern day, it is the story of a childless woman whose husband gives her a "tree stump" baby that she loves like a real child.  It comes to life, but its insatiable appetite soon leads to horrific results.

D.H. Lawrence, The Rocking Horse Winner.  Could you mean the classic, DH Lawrence short story?
I'm sorry to disagree, but the stumper requester's description does not match The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence.  The boy in that short story rides a rocking horse (not a saw horse) to determine the winners in various horse races in an effort to ease his extravagant parents' chronic financial troubles.  He doesn't want a real horse, he doesn't create the rocking horse, his parents never buy him a real horse, and he dies at the end of the story.  You can read it here.
Thanks, but it is not the Rocking Horse winner.  It was a children's picture book.  I think some of the family members, may have contributed items, like a yarn mane, and an old saddle etc.  It wasn't a tragic story, but the boy did yearn terribly for a real pony.  It was also definitely a sawhorse, and kept outside in an old building.

S342 I checked East of the sun and west of the moon with black and white illus by the D'Aulaires, but no kettles being stirred.
You might be on to something here!  "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"......I checked out the title and there seem to be several illustrators........D'Aulaires among them.........but some are in color!  The story of the little boy who defeats ogres MIGHT be it!  This story, whatever it is, is one of my strongest memories of my mother reading to me, for some reason.............I think the pictures actually scared me so that is why I'm thinking the "ogres" might be the right one!  Thank you....it's definitely a start.........please let me know if you come up with anything else and I will follow up as well!
In the late 1960s or so I had a beatiful large book of Scandinavian fairy tales.  The cover illustration was a side view of a knight and young woman on a rearing horse.  I think the title was Scandinavian Fairy Tales.  Does this sound like what you're looking for?
(I don't know the title or author, but this is in regards to S342) This sounds like a book I'm looking for, too.  I'm guessing it was published in the fifties or sixties.  I remember that the husband and wife in the ocean are stirring a caldron to create a whirlpool.  The first few pages of the book show Lapland life, I think.  There is a brightly painted interior picture, and they also show reindeer soon after.  The illustrations are colorful and detailed and I remember them being drawn very similar to Jan Brett?s current books.  I remember the picture of the Northern Lights, maybe with a child in the foreground. There is also a picture with a goat on top of a house eating grass from the roof.  The strangest part of this book is the final illustration. The boys have killed a giant chicken, and are standing in the foreground, with the giant chicken's legs up ended like trees and the sun setting between the chickens legs.  The boys have saved the town and the town feasts on the chicken in celebration.  (Yikes!)  I think the final words are, "Snip Snap Snout, and now this tale is out."

Dorothy Koch, I Play at the Beach,1955.This could be the book you're looking for.  Published by Holiday House in 1955 with beautiful primary-color illustrations by the renowned Feodor Rojankovsky, this tale of a family's day at the beach is told by a girl whose brother is her playmate.  They bring lots of toys and "hurry to the bathhouse" to change into their red bathing suits.
I've also been looking for this book for years and am wondering if the original poster of this request, ever located the title or the book?    All I can remember is that the two children were boys and for some reason, the name "Tommy" sticks out in my memory. I remember it also mentioned- sea gulls, sand castles.  I remember it being a small book, perhaps the size of a Junior Elf, but I'm also not sure.  If there's any further information, I'd greatly appreciate it.  If I could at least locate the name of the book.  For some reason, I think it's Day at the Beach, but none of the books with thistitle, are the right one. I was born in 1964 and would have read this book with my Mom during the late 1960's.
I Play at the Beach by Dorothy Koch (Holiday House).
Jackson, Kathryn and Byron, A Day at the Beach, 1951, copyright.  This is a Little Golden Book that recounts the activities of Nancy and Timmy at the beach.  There is a bath house where the children change into their swimsuits and hang up their clothes.  Nancy builds castles and dams but there is no mention of seagulls.  (A book about two boys at the beach is Fun at the Beach by Gloria Trachtenberg, c. 1960, a Whitman Tiny-Tot Tale.  Johnny Joe and his brother follow the footprints of sea gulls in the sand, and Johnny Joe cries a little when he sees his castle washed away.)

Sharon Creech, Chasing Redbird.  This is a story about Zinnia Taylor and her large family.  She finds an old path through the woods and spends the summer clearing it.  There is an old cabin the in the woods filled with the mementos of her cousin who died as a young child and she spends some time there.  Her older sisters advise her on how to act around boys and there is a mild teenage romance that occurs. Hope this is your book.  Sharon Creech has won the Newbery award but not for this book.
Bad News!  The mystery we thought was solved actually isn't.  I read Chasing Redbird, and while it does have some of the same elements I am looking for, it is not the right book.  The first giveaway is that there are home computers mentioned in the book, and when I read this in the very early 80's, no one had computers, let alone families that live in the sticks.  However, reading this book did prompt some more memories.  The family in the book I am looking for may have been African-American, and I think that it was a very close-knit family with little contact with the outside world.

S345 I think it must be The Children's hour comp by Marjorie Barrows.
Marjorie Barrows, ed., The Children's Hour,1953.  This sounds as if it could be the Children's Hour anthology/set.  My 16-volume hardcover set dates to 1953 and is bound in red (except for a small area on the spine with a black background, where the volume number and series title appear).  While the overall content is drawn from a variety of genres, more than one of the individual volumes includes work that might be counted as fairy tale, fantasy, or folklore.
The Children's Hour, 1954.  Set of 16 hardbacks bound in red.  Volumes include:  First Story Book, Favorite Fairy Tales, Old Time Favorites, Caravan of Fun, Best-Loved Poems, Stories of Today, Favorite Mystery Stories, Myths and Legends, From Many Lands, School and Sport, Along Blazed Trails, Stories of Long AGo, Roads to Adventure, Favorite Animal Stories, Leaders and Heroes, and Science Fiction- Guide.
Field Enterprises, Inc. Educational Division, Childcraft, 1955.  I wonder if this could be the "Childcraft" series of books--I still have them. The original copyright dates back to the 1930's so the 1950's series is probably revised. The whole set is 15 books but my parents purchased them 1 at a time until the set was complete. The books are red hard backs with illustrations on the front done in white, black and blue, and the volume # and title are in black on the binding. They include: Poems from Early Childhood, Folk and Fairy Tales, Animal Friends and Adventures, Life in Other Lands, Famous Men and Deeds, etc. Does this ring a bell?
There's a set of red (more burgundy, really) books from the 1940s: Book Trails, edited by Renee Bernd Stern & O. Muriel Fuller.  The eight volumes are entitled v. 1. For baby feet.--v. 2. Through the wildwood.--v. 3 To enchanted lands.--v. 4. On the highroad to adventure.--v. 5. To turret tops.--v. 6. At the crossroads.--v. 7. Winding westward.--v. 8. Of trail blazers.  The covers are embossed with a picture of a knight on horseback.

Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper.  Only a faint possibility.
Reilly, Robert, Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal. (1957)
Little Prince I-Want-My-Way. Is it possibly Litte Prince I-Want-My-Way ?  This book was read to us in second grade (around 1961) and the plot sounds very much the same.  Hope it helps.

Victor Appleton II (author), Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway (1963). Entry # S348 reminds me of a Tom Swift Jr. novel (which were indeed in yellow hard covers), specifically Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway 1963  by Victor Appleton II

William Tenn, Time in Advance, 1956.  This is Time in Advance by "William Tenn" (pseudonym of Philip Klass).  It first appeared in the August 1956 issue of GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE, and has been reprinted in the 1958 Tenn collection TIME IN ADVANCE and the recent Tenn omnibus IMMODEST PROPOSALS, plus at least three anthologies: # Introducing Science Fiction, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, Faber and Faber 1964
# The 13 Crimes of Science Fiction, ed. Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh, Doubleday 1979  Science Fiction Century, ed. David Hartwell, 1997  A story, "Fool Killer" by Stanley Mullen has much the same premise as Tenn's, but I don't think that one's been reprinted since its original magazine appearance in the May 1958 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION.  The requestor might find it also of interest.

Rumer Godden, An Episode of Sparrows.  Can't tell much from the information given, but this might be it.
I remembered something more: the book was given to me free from a book order (Scholastic/Troll?) when one of the books I had ordered was delayed.  In addition, the publisher was based in New York  my grandfather had spoke with them many years ago but they couldn't help us find a copy.
It's definitely not An Episode of Sparrows. This book is set in London mine was definitely in South Africa, because I remember doing a report on Swaziland/Lesotho as a result of reading this book.
NOT! Episode of Sparrows.  I have read Episode of Sparrows many times. It is about a girl and a boy in England. He is Irish Catholic and she is the illegitmate daughter of a woman who abandons her to an italian (?) couple. They steal earth, gardening tools, and, seeds, etc and plant a tiny garden in the rubble of a bombed out church. It is a wonderful story, but doesn't match S354.
Laurens Van Der Post, A Story Like the Wind. Takes place in Zimbabwe though, but maybe they flee to Lesotho? Another possibility:  Into the Valley by Michael Williams (can't find an original publishing date for this) Do you know if this was written by someone local to the area, or by an American who was writing *about* South Africa?

[same as still unsolved S347]
Prince Bertram the Bad, 1960s.  I don't remember this book entirely, but it's definitely about a badly behaved medieval prince who learns his lesson.
HRL: Arnold Lobel's Prince Bertram the Bad (Random House, 1979) is on the Solved Mysteries page, but I don't think that's it.
Arnold Lobel's Prince Bertram the Bad (Random House, 1979) has been suggested as a solution, but it is not the book I am looking for. The boy in the book I'm thinking of is between 10 and 14 years old. The book was definitely published before 1950.

Thanx. Looking back, I can see that my request may have arched an eyebrow. The whole line was uttered by Prof. Chaffee, a respected law teacher who said "The right to trial by jury was the sword in the bed which prevented the perfect union of law and equity." The trouble was that the old coot (I'm 75) didn't give any footnotes for his line, and subsequent "scholars" have made a sort of cult-thing of it by whispering behind the portiers.
Does the poster want a specific book in which this happens? It's a standard (at least apocryphally) in legends about knights and maidens. Most notably, Tristan and Isolde (Iseult). The sword is placed between the pair as a symbol that even though sharing a bed, they are not having sex.
The friendly comment was welcomes. My blessed mother was a Pennsylvania German lady and I learned a lot back there in Central Penna. about "Bundling Boards" and "Bundling Bags" (Gee! Mom, I only ever took one leg out of the bag.) So it all makes sense. I would appreciate one respectable citation for the sword story. Thanx.
Literary citations aplenty here and here.  You can also find references in Norse (Sigurd), German (Siegfried), and even Roman mythology. For a modern reference, check out GB Shaw's Candida:III:i--" If I were a hero of old, I should have laid my drawn sword between us."

Maxwell, Arthur Stanley, Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories: first series.  1927.  " A collection of short tales with Christian moral themes for children, followed by stories from the life of Jesus. " Contents: Part 1. Moral lesson stories. Shipwreck -- Preserved from sickness -- Man who cannot move -- Two Carolines -- Amy's gift -- Hollow pie -- Wilfred's secret -- Conkers and conquerors -- Tinker -- Dreamy Dora -- Curious Katie -- Jesus understood. Part 2. Stories of Jesus. Who was Jesus? -- Blind men of Jericho -- Homeless leper -- Ungrateful nine -- Little girl who went to sleep -- Boy who ran away from home -- Attacked by brigands -- Jesus and the children -- When Jesus comes back again. " A collection of short tales with Christian moral themes for children, followed by stories from the life of Jesus. "

Julie And The Duckling. The book that you are looking for is Julie and the Duckling by J. Barnabe retold by Jane Carruth illustrated by Jose-Luis Macias Dauvister

Regarding my stumper (S370), my wife remembers the plot somewhat differently.  She says that the sisters - or at least one of them - fell asleep on the couch.  The couch was not colorful she thinks, but a dull gray, as the entire book was not very colorful (I was probably thinking of a different favorite book about a mother and girl who saved money to buy a big easy chair - this one brightly colored).  She thinks the book - a hardcover - was square-ish in shape, maybe 6 by 7 inches.
Charlotte Zolotow, pictures by Martha Alexander, Big Sister and Little Sister.  There is an illustration like that in Big Sister and Little Sister the two sisters are sitting on the couch sewing.  The couch is definitely kind of old-fashioned (with long, spindly legs) but it doesn't have flowered fabric (the illustrations in the book are tinted with pinks and greens, so it's kind of a grayish-green).
No idea about the original stumper, but the mother and daughter saving money for a chair, in bright illustrations, is probably Vera Williams' A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER.

Vian Smith, 1960s?  Hi, I have a possible solution for the poster of the stumper of a book about a stepdaughter adjusting to a stepmother.  Book was by a British author, possible name of Smith, written for young adults, sense of trauma/adjustment.  Could the author be Vian Smith?  Author was British, wrote books geared to young adults.  Sober and beautiful style, lyrical, but definitely not sentimental writing.  I was fortunate enough to find a library with many of the author's works when I was young.  Mostly horse stories but other issues as well (workers' rights, the Industrial Revolution, etc.).  Do not recall any with stepdaughter/stepmother challenges but I did not read all the books.  But any of them are highly recommended- Smith is one of my favorite authors of all time- too bad all of the books seem to have gone out of print.
Thanks for this tip!  It certainly gives me more to work with, and I can see the possibility of the link with "Lillian/Diana" and "Vian".  I will try to investigate a stepmother/daughter relationship in one of his books. I don't remember any horse motif, but maybe that was part of the story also, and it just doesn't stand out for me.  There is something very distinctive and moving about the author's style of writing that has obviously stayed with me for all these years.  You're right, I don't think there was anything sentimental about the story at all.  He sounds like a worthwhile writer to seek out, even if he is not the author of the book I'm searching for.  Two more very slight clues: this may have been a Reader's Union (a British book club) version of the book. Another memory that came to mind is that the stepmother is introduced very early on in the book, even on the first page or so.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any books by Vian Smith that matched what I am looking for, nor can I come up with any additional information, other than the name Penny as quite possibly the heroine's name.  If someone is skimming through these archives and has any other suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Eleanor Schick, City in the Winter.  Could this be it? Jimmy stays home from school on a snowy day. His grandmother takes care of him while his mother goes to work. He sees birds on a nearby rooftop and feeds them some bread. He makes a barn for his animals out of a box. They walk to the store for milk but the store is closed. They come home and make soup to warm up, and are glad when his mother returns at the end of the day.

The Very Best Home For Me.  (illustrated by Garth Williams, I think) I think this is what you're looking for. It's a Little Golden Book and several animals (kitten, puppy, rabbit, bird, chick, ?squirrel) all live together. They take turns cooking and of course most of them don't like what the others want to eat. They decide to look for new homes and I think the bird finds one where s/he can eat "seed of the weed."
The book I am inquiring about has been put after just a few days on the "solved list."  My daughter and I were so, so excited but after checking closer and researching, we both agreed this book solution offered ,  The Very Best Home For Me, is definitely not it.  We both knew immediately it was not a Little Golden Book and the cover illustration was definitely not the one.
Asheron, Sara, Will You Come to My Party? 'The specific information for this book has been taken off of the internet, so....I had a copy of this book when I was little, and found a copy for my own son.  But it is no longer in his (much dwindled) collection, as he is now approaching 16...It is a story of animals all coming together for a party, each bringing his or her own food - including "seeds of the weed.") 

Check out the description of The Magic Key on the Solved Stumpers page.  It looks like this could be it.

S396 is not Little Golden The littlest Christmas elf by Nancy Buss
Knigge, Robert Knigge, Sally King Brewe, Silver Spurs, Santa's Smallest Brightest Elf (1978) Silver Spurs, Santa's Smallest Brightest Elf, by R. Knigge, Robert Knigge, Sally King Brewer Publisher: Knollwood Pub    Age Level:  Ages 9 - 12  ISBN:  0915614014 

Johnston, Norma, Of Time and Of Seasons. This book takes place around the time of the Civil War.  Bridget has several siblings, and her older sister is mentally challenged.  I think she (the sister) gets raped by a gang of hillbilly type brothers and ends up pregnant.  A family friend (?) is in love with her and offers to marry her so her baby will have a father.  Bridget has lots of teenage/growing up angst, and feels like the ordinary child among all her talented siblings, but at the end she realizes she has a talent for acting.
Vera and Bill Cleaver, Where the Lilies Bloom or Me Too.  If it's a book about a family of kids trying to survive in their mountain home after their father's death (and not let on that their father has died), it could be Where the Lilies Bloom.  Maybe.  But there's also Me Too, also by the Cleavers.  "Left to look after her retarded twin for a whole summer, Lydia determines to be the one to really change Lornie."
S398 I just skimmed a lot of Where the lilies bloom, and I doubt that  it is it.
Caroline Crane, A Girl Like Tracy.  Another possibility might be Pamela Reynolds: A Different Kind of Sister.

C. B. Colby, Strangely Enough!, 1967, reprint.  I don't know if this is the correct book but parts of the description remind me of it.  It's a small paperback and the cover is greenish.  There are trees and a weird looking man running on the cover.  It is a collection of stories:  unsolved mysteries, ghosts, eerie happenings, etc.  Most (but not all) of the stories are accompanied by black and white illustrations.  I looked for a story about a wheelbarrow but didn't find one.  However, the copy I have is abridged.

perhaps Seabird by Holling C. Holling?
Robert McCloskey, Burt Dow:  Deep Water Man.  Longshot.  The giggling gull and Burt go fishing and help a whale who needs a bandage.  It does have fabulous illustrations -- very colorful.

This is a very long shot, but Patricia Cornwell's All That Remains featured a serial killer who left a playing card by his victims' bodies.  But I believe it is always the jack of hearts that he leaves behind, and also the book was published in 1992, so this is probably not the right book, but I just thought I would suggest it as a possibility.

I can't remember if it's the first or second book, but it's one of Scott Corbett's books about Dr. Merlin, either DR. MERLIN'S MAGIC SHOP or THE
GREAT CUSTARD PIE PANIC. Dr. Merlin tries to swap out the brain of Nick's dog, but somehow they trick him and he swaps the brain of his own vicious
dog.~from a librarian

SOLVED: Arthur I Gates, Miriam Blanton Huber, Frank Seely Salisbury, Two Boys and a Tree, 1951.

I do not know the name of the anthology, but the story is of a Czech fable called Little Otik. There was a cool but disturbing film made by Jan Svankmajar in 2001.
I can't help with the anthology, but I can tell you that the story of the wood stump child is a Czech folktale.  In 2000, it was made into a Czech language movie called "Otesanek", retitled "Little Otik" for English audiences.  I can also tell you that someone else is looking for this book: see unsolved stumper S328.
Erben, Karel Jaromir, Tales from Bohemia.  This may or may not be the book that you're looking for. According to the internet the film "Little Otik" was based on a book written by Karel Jaromir Erben. Erben's Tales from Bohemia is described as a children's book of Czech folklore. I wasn't able to find out whether it contains the "Little Otik" story or not, but it may be worth looking into.

Janet Higonnet-Schnopper (editor), Tales from atop a Russian stove, 1973.  This is a medium-long shot: the mention of the inside cover design and fact same publisher did LITTLE WOMEN and some BOBBSEY TWIN books around same time makes it pretty certain this was a Whitman Publishing Co. Book.  Searching library database WorldCat for  firebird  as a keyword and Whitman as publisher, I found this.  But: "The Firebird" is not the first story in the book, and this Whitman is given as based in Chicago, while the "classic" Whitman books were published in Racine, Wisconsin.  So, as I said, a longshot:  Title: Tales from atop a Russian stove.  Author(s): Higonnet-Schnopper, Janet,  comp.  Publication: Chicago, A. Whitman  Year: 1973 Description: 160 p. illus. 22 cm. Language: English  Contents: pt. 1: Of craft and cunning. The soldier's fur coat.--If you don't like it, don't listen.--Who'll wash the porridge pot?--Anfy and his landlord.--The clever soldier and the stingy woman.--Not bad-but it could be better.--Hungry-for-battle.--The peasant, the bear, and the fox.--The cat and the she-fox. pt. 2: Of heroes and heroines. The firebird.--Daughter and stepdaughter.--A red, ripe apple, a golden sauser.--Alyosha Popovich.--Vasilisa and prince Vladimir. Tales -- Russia. Folklore -- Russia.
Arthur Ransome, Old Peter's Russian Tales, 1916.  Dmitri Mitrokhan, Illustrator. I'm 99% sure this is the right book, but I don't have a copy to verify... but I'm very certain the described artwork (Horse standing on Firebird wings) is in this book.
I'm not the original poster, but the original description reminded me of a book I had in childhood (complete with the fleur-de-lys pattern on the endpapers), and would like to find because of the great impact the story of the Firebird and its illustrations made on me.  It is not Old Peter's Russian Tales.  I'd never run across any of the other stories in that until adulthood when I picked up a copy because it was the only one I could find that had the 'proper' Firebird story.  (there are two famous Firebird stories, and I kept finding the other one).  It might be the other compilation, although I would have sworn it was in our house earlier than the '70s.  More like middle '60s.  hoping this helps sort of at least.
Thank you so much for your input! I really appreciate it. I'm pretty sure it's not Peter's Russian Tales. I'm ordering the Whitman one to make sure, but I think it was a thicker book, and had a story about a glass cat. The Bobbsey Twins and Heidi covers in the same series look awfully familiar though! Just wish the cover wasn't ripped off my original! Thanks so very much!

Wylly Folk St. John, The Ghost Next Door, 1971.  If you remember an owl, then this it! See Solved Mysteries.
#S418:  Stone wall near pond sounds similar to an incident in The Ghost Next Door, by Wylly Folk St. John.  Miranda did, indeed, drown in the pond, but the clue left under bricks nearby was a false, planted one.  The real clue turned up elsewhere.
Wylly Folk St. John, The Ghost Next Door, 1971.  If the drowned girl was named Miranda, and the hidden item was a cement owl "with love in its eyes" made by Miranda and her Aunt Judith, then this is The Ghost Next Door.  Other characters you may remember are Sherry, who is Miranda's half sister but never knew that her father once had another child and the two neighbor girls, Lindsey and Tammy.  Another thing that has always stuck in my head was that they dyed flowers by putting food coloring in the water.  Great story!

Bel Kaufman, Up The Down Staircase, 1964, approximately.  Silas Marner is referred to fairly often in this book, which deals with a young teacher's first year in a New York City high school.

I don't know the book, from description (1960s series of several books with young female protagonists), I suspect it's listed in the large GIRLS' SERIES BOOKS: A CHECKLIST OF TITLES PUBLISHED 1840-1991 that's online here.  Lot of possibilities, but maybe requestor will recognize.
Julie Campbell, Trixie Belden:  The Gatehouse Mystery, 1951.  This is a stretch, but it might be the book you're looking for.  Trixie & her best friend Honey end up with a valuable diamond, which they plan to keep safe until they can solve the mystery themselves.  At one point in the story the diamond is hidden in a pincushion, but because they don't want Trixie's little brother to know about it, they speak in puns to figure out who has it. However, although Trixie has an older brother who likes to use long words, I don't remember anything about science experiments or tropical island visits ...  There are several books in this series, which went through a number of reprints.
Could this be one of the Phyllis Whitney mysteries? They were published in the late 70s/80s and the premise sounds very like one of hers.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I checked those books and they are not the ones.  It doesn't seem that it's a Phyllis Whitney book.  One additional detail that I remember is that the brother was really tall, and that was referenced throughout the book, and I think in the second book the girl's friend and the girl's brother got involved romantically by the end.

Caroline baxter, The Stolen Telesm. Written in the 70's about a brother & sister and a stolen "jewel" type thing with a winged horse.

Jude Deveraux, Wishes.  Not a childrens or teen book, but your description sounds very similar to the plot line of Jude Deveraux's, Wishes, which was first published in the early 90s I believe.
s426 is definitely NOT Wishes, which has nothing to do with traveling or working in an inn but rather is a Cinderella-esque story complete with "fairy" godmother/angel'

S431  I'm pretty sure that this is one of the books by Flora Gill Jacobs, possibly THE DOLL HOUSE MYSTERY or THE TOY SHOP MYSTERY. There is a Siamese cat in these books, and the cat is shown on the front cover of both books.~from a librarian
Flora Gill Jacobs, The Doll House Mystery, 1958, approximately.  This book features a Siamese cat that disturbs the furniture in the dollhouse (based on the author's cat Annie) and the publication date fits.  My copy has a red dustjacket, but it's probably a later reprint.

Corbett, Grahame, Watching at the window, 1984.  This book is described as a "look-through book" however I'm unable to find any further details about it.

Lester Del Ray, Outpost of Jupiter.This at least takes place on Ganymede!

Since no-one else has sent an answer, I suggest looking at STANLEY by Syd Hoff, 1962. It's about a caveman who does things differently and comes up
with better ways to live. It's an easy reader book~from a librarian

Angus and the Ducks.  If it could have been a hedge instead, it might have been Angus and the Ducks.  Don't remember it having the full-colour illustrations, though.
Van Allsburg, Chris, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. (1979)  This doesn't match your recollections completely, but conical topiary trees in a formal garden and little dog are on the cover of this book from the same time period. Grand estate and statuary also figure in the story.
Here's a guess:  Angus Lost, written by Marjorie Flack (1931)
I don't know if any of these is the correct solution, but the stumper requester might want to examine the Angus stories written and illustrated by Marjorie Flack: Angus and the Ducks (1931)  Angus and the Cat (1931) and Angus Lost (1932).  These are colorful illustrated books about a little black scottie dog, and they have been reprinted numerous times.  Another set of books with beautiful, full color illustrations is the McDuff series written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Susan Jeffers, but that scottie dog is white, not black, and the books may be too recent.  Although the drawings have a vintage (pre 1960s)look, the series started in 1997.  Still, these are worth examining because one book in the series, McDuff Goes to School, features a black scottie!  The series includes: McDuff Moves In (1997) McDuff Comes Home (1997) McDuff and the Baby (1997) McDuff's New Friend (1998) [reprinted in 2005 as Mc Duff's Christmas] McDuff Goes to School (2001)McDuff Saves the Day (2002) McDuff's Hide and Seek (2004) and McDuff's Wild Romp (2005).
If you're sure you're looking for a black scottie and brightly colored pictures, then The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg is probably not the book you're looking for.  While it features a topiary garden, the illustrations are black and white, and the dog is a white bull terrier with a black patch on its left eye.

Sam Reavin, Hurray for Captain Jane!, 1971. I know that the date is wrong, but it might be worth looking into Hurray for Captain Jane, published by Parent's Magazine Press in 1971.  Perhaps this is a reprint of an earlier story?  It tells the fanciful bathtub adventure of a little girl who gets to be the captain of her own ship, after she receives some black jelly beans, a buoyant bar of soap, and a wax-paper sailor's hat at a birthday party.  On board the ship with her are another girl (Kate, Seawoman First Class) and a sailor who looks just like Jane's brother, Simon.

Eric Carle, The Mixed-Up Chameleon. (1975)  This is definitely the book you're looking for!  The chameleon visits a zoo, and concludes that he is small, slow and weak.  He wishes to acquire the positive attributes of the animals he sees, and his appearance changes as he describes each desirable trait.  By the end of the book, he is big and white like a polar bear, and has a flamingo's wings, fox's tail, fish's fins, deer's antlers, giraffe's neck, turtle's shell, elephant's head, seal's flippers, man's derby hat, and woman's umbrella.  Please note that there are two versions of this book!  The current and most widely available version has the cut tissue collage illustrations that are Eric Carle's trademark.  There is an older version, however, that is hand drawn and colored in a wild and scribbly style. This is the version you're looking for.  The book was originally published in 1975, then reissued in 1984 with the current illustrations.  I've done a pretty extensive online image search, but can't find a copy of the older version, or even a cover picture from it!  Good luck finding it!
Here is a little more information about the Mixed-Up Chameleon from the Official Eric Carle website.  When the new edition was issued in 1984, "Carle...replaced the heavy-lined, childlike, scrawled colors with crisp, appealing collages and...streamlined the text....For example, where the 1975 edition read, “If I could be like a fox, then I would be smart. Instantly it had a fox’s fluffy red tail.” Now it simply says, “I wish I could be smart like a fox,” with the illustrations showing the fluffy red tail.
The title of the book used the word Serendipity or some derivation of it. Thanks for your suggestion of The Crazy Mixed Up Cameleon, but, I am familiar with it and that is not the book that am trying to find.
Cosgrove, Stephan, Serendipity Books.  I suggest you look at the books Stephan Cosgrove wrote for children called Serendipity Books. I have never read all of them but I remember they always featured the symbol of a dragonish sea creature named Serendipity and the words 'A Serendipity Book' on the title page inside the cover. Serindipity was maroon with green eyes and spikes, had a flipper tail, and looked friendly.

Steiner, Claude, The Warm Fuzzy Tale.  Not all of the details match, but the general gist of the story sounds a lot like the Warm Fuzzy Tale.

This may be the Reading for All Learners Program (RALP), which was originally known as the Beginning Reading Program developed by the Southwest Regional Laboratory for Educational Research and Development (SWRL). The SWRL program was initially released in 1972.  I think the primers you're looking for are the Little Books on their website.  They also have Sam the Lion and Sis the Snake handpuppets on this page.

James White.  This sounds very much like one of James White's many books about Sector General, a hospital space station staffed by members of numerous intelligent species.
Alan Nourse, Star Surgeon.  Aha!  My James White guess was incorrect. It's Star Surgeon, by Alan Nourse, who also wrote several books with medical themes.
Alan Nourse, Star Surgeon.  As someone has already pointed out, this is Nourse's STAR SURGEON.  Of possible further interest -- copyright wasn't renewed on the book and it fell into public domain so the full text is available online.

Sylvia Plath, The Bed Book.

Stewart Cowley, Spacecraft 2000-2100, A.D. (1978) Just a suggestion.
Harry Harrison and Malcolm Edwards, Spacecraft in Fact and Fiction. (1979)  I suspect it's this one -- cover art is online here if that might confirm it.

Aiken, Joan.  I know that both these short stories are by Joan Aiken - I especially remember the one with the beaded snake. The problem is that she is a very prolific writer, and there are MANY collections of her short stories - I don't know which collection these are in. There is a list of all her collections as well as her other works here.
Joan Aiken, More than you bargained for.  The short stories described are Nutshells, Seashells is the story about the girl with a skipping rope  Mrs Samphire is in Pigeon Cake for Mrs Samphire  and the snake is in More Than You Bargained For.  These were all published in a collection called More Than You Bargained For, later reprinted in another collection called All But a Few.
Joan Aiken, More Than You Bargained For. (1955)  This collection includes "Nutshells, Seashells" and "Pigeon Cake for Mrs. Samphire." I can't remember which story may include the snake. The stories were later reprinted in "Not What You Expected" and in "All But a Few.

Lois Duncan (author), A Gift of Magic. The girl's name is Nancy.  Her grandmother gave her the gift of magic, her sister Kirby the gift of dance, and her brother Brendon the gift of music.  The parents to divorce and Nancy uses her gift to find Brendon and his friend who have drifted out to sea in a homemade boat.
Lois Duncan (author), A Gift of Magic. I think this is the book you're looking for.  Nancy's sister Kirby has a gift for dance, but Nancy wonders why she doesn't have a special gift herself.  Then she starts to know what other people are thinking, or what's going to happen before it does, but she doesn't believe it.  Her parents are newly divorced and her mom is starting to see other men, which really bothers Nancy.  Little brother Brandon takes off in a small boat during a storm, and Nancy's ESP helps them find and rescue him.
Zoa Sherburne (author), The Girl Who Knew Tomorrow. I am absolutely certain this is a Zoa Sherburne book--my best friend has all of them (they were her mother's).  I can't give a title for certain, though.
Willo Davis Roberts (author), The Girl with the Silver Eyes. Okay, I take back my "I'm certain" about Zoa Sherburne--this book is another likely candidate, and it also lives on my best friend's bookshelf :p.
Lois Duncan (author), A Gift of Magic.
Lois Duncan (author) , A Gift of Magic, (1970). I remember reading this book as a youngster also.  Most of my books were from the Weekly Reader sheets so I think this must be it.  I think it had a point where they were testing the girl and she deliberately got everything wrong.
Wilanne Belden (author), Mind-Find, (1980). You might try Mind-Find to see if that's the book you're looking for.  The girl's name is Laurel, but there's a sea rescue and ESP.  There are two other loosely connected books Mind-Call and Mind-Hold with similar themes.  There's another water rescue in one of the other titles, but it's a boy with ESP in that one. Another title to try might be The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts.  Another girl with ESP/psychokinesis who is awkward around others. (Although...who wouldn't be?)
Willow Davis Roberts, The Girl with the Silver Eyes.  This is definitely NOT the book you're after.  The girl in this book doesn't have ESP, she's telekinetic, and the plot revolves around her finding other kids with similar abilities (linked by their mothers working at the same drug company when they were pregnant) - there's nothing about a storm or saving people.
Cora Taylor, Julie, 1985. I'm not sure that this is the book, but it sounds at least very similar to the one you're looking for. The back blurb reads:
"Julie Morgan's pyschic ability allows her knowledge of both the past and the future, but it also makes her 'different.' This beautifully written story of a special child trying to comprehend what can be only dimly understook will stay with young readers long after the book is read." It won the 1985 Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award for Children.

Carolyn Haywood, Penny goes to camp, 1957.  Adopted brothers Penny and Peter spend the summer at camp - I'm pretty sure that I remember a section about a sou'wester and a boat, though it's been a long time since I read it.

CAM, Bill Frog to the Rescue, 1951.  Solved for the same person on another forum, who verified it there.  Summary:  "When Bill Frog takes medicine to Father Christmas, it ends in the most splendid of Christmas parties."

James Wallerstein, Tommy and Julie.  Check out Stumper L193.  I think you're describing the same book.

Michael J. Pellowski, Double Trouble. (1994)  Maybe a long-shot, but your description of the cover sounded like a book that I used to own when I was a kid, about two twins named Randi and Sandi Daniels. Randi is tomboy soccer-player and Sandi is quite the opposite, but they switch identities at one point in the book, and Sandi has to go play soccer instead of Randi because everyone thinks that she's her. That's all I can remember.  I'm sure that my copy was red, and the two girls were on the cover, the one wearing a pretty sweater and the other in a soccer uniform that I could have sworn was yellow, but I don't really remember and I don't have the book to check. I call it a long-shot because I discovered when I was looking it up that it's apparently the first book in an entire series about the twins.  But I thought I'd mention it anyway.
Pascal, Francine, Sweet Valley Twins #28 - April Fools!.  This may not be the right book, but it sounds kind of like it. In this one, Elizabeth and Jessica - who normally switch identities for April Fools Day -- decide instead to not switch but pretend that they have. Everybody believes that they've switched and Elizabeth ends up having a horrible day because of it. In the end, it turns out that everyone knew that they hadn't switched and it was really just an April Fools joke on Elizabeth.
The Sweet Valley Twins books aren't in print anymore, but I've seen used copies of this one. .I hope this helps!!

Joyce Grenfell, Geroge, don't do that... 1970s.  sounds like a book of nursery school monologues by Joyce Grenfell, very popular English author and comedienne, approx 1960/70 but reprinted and still available I think.

Might be a long shot, but could it be BABY ISLAND by Carol Ryrie Brink, 1937,1965, 1993. Two young sisters are stranded on an island with a bunch of babies after their ship goes down ~from a librarian
Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins, 1961.  I don't know if this is it or not, but a girl stranded on an island, who looks after a child for a while, does remind me of "Island of the Blue Dolphins".
Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins.  I'm not sure if your book is Island of the Blue Dolphins, but if it is not, you might be interested in it in addition to your own book as it is also about being stranded on a desert island. Another good book is The Blue Lagoon by H. DeVere Stacpoole, which is available in online texts (don't judge it by the Brooke Shields film).
Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphin, 1961.  Could this be it? 1961 was the original publish date, but it won an award in 1976, so the date you recall reading the book fits. Here is the description: "Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years. O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years."
I'll check these books out, Thanks!!! The Blue Dolphin could be it,although the cover could have changed! Thanks again for your help!

Walt Disney's Perri, 1957.  A Big Golden Book. It has a squirrel on the cover with an autumn setting and green background. It's about a squirrel named Perri growing up. My copy is physically damaged by me or my 4 siblings, but the pictures are still beautiful.
Miriam Young, Miss Suzy, 1964.  Parents' Magazine Press.  It's about 10"h x 7"w, with a school-bus yellow cover picturing a squirrel and 2 soldiers. It's about a gray squirrel who was run out of her happy home in a tree and found her way into the attic of a nearby house. She makes her home in a dollhouse and befriends / mothers a box of toy soldiers. Eventually, they march on her old home and oust the interlopers.

Eileen Dunlop, Elizabeth Elizabeth, (1977). I do believe this is what you are looking for! A sulky young girl, spending the summer with her historian aunt in a 200 yr. old Scottish manse, finds that she inadvertently time-travels into the life of the daughter of the original owners of the mansion. Yes, there's a twist or two at the end. Great read--I re-read it this year at Halloween.
Pam Conrad, Stonewords. I actually posted this stumper and figured it out by browsing solved mysteries...thanks!
Pamela Sykes, Mirror of Danger, 1973. Lucy, an orphan raised by her eccentric aunt, is sent to live in London (?) with another aunt/uncle and cousins when her aunt dies. Raised to appreciate the past, she has a hard time connecting with the modern familly. Seeking escape, she spends time in the attic of house and discovers she can escape into an alternate Victorian world and befriends a girl named Alice about her age. Things get scary when Alice wants her to stay in the past.
Pam Conrad, Stonewords. The book described could be Stonewords by Pam Conrad.  It's about a girl who goes to live in an old house...in England, possibly, who meets another girl who is actually a ghost(?).  There is also a time travel element to the story.  Darn it, it's been so long since I read the book I'm not sure I remember enough to help the poster figure out if this is, but it popped into my head when I read the stumper.
Janet Lunn, Double Spell or Twin Spell? There's a part in it where one of the heroines looks out a window at the past.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Spyhole Secrets, 2001, approximately.  There is an outside chance this could be "Spyhole Secrets" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. The book takes place entirely in modern times, but Hallie (the one doing the spying) imagines the young woman she's spying on as a fairytale princess, in fact identifies her with Rapunzel. There is a subplot about the history of the house and its possibly being haunted and so forth. Good luck!

William Sleator, Singularity, 1985. Are you sure it was a girl and not a boy?  In Singularity, twin brothers who are very competitive discover some kind of hut in their backyard that causes time to move differently.  The younger twin goes in and spends approximately a year there, while only a day passes for his brother.  He comes out looking older and it changes their whole relationship.  There may have been a girl in the story as a friend or who the twins competed over.  Good luck!

Littledale, Freya, comp., Ghosts and Spirits of Many Lands.  Doubleday, 1970.  This is the only book I could find with the Boggart short story. "contents -- The return of the land-otter, by Mrs. A. Lang.--The book of magic, by J. T. Naaké.--The boy who drew cats, by L. Hearn.--The boggart, by T. Keightley.--The eternal wanderer of the pampas, by M. A. Jagendorf and R. S. Boggs.--Yi Chang and the haunted house, by E. M. Jewett.--The horned women, by Lady Wilde.--Musakalala, the talking skull, by P. Savory.--A dead secret, by L. Hearn.--How the ghost got in, by E. S. Hartland.--The mysterious path, by P'\''u Sung-ling.--The rain-lady and the ghost, by A. de Leeuw.--The two friends, by A. N. Afanas'\''yev.--The lutin in the barn, by N. S. Carlson.--The boy in the land of shadows, by C. Macmillan.--The King o'\'' the Cats, by J. Jacobs.--The strange ship of Captain Fokke, by M. A. Lawson.--Blood on his forehead, by V. Randolph.--Sandy MacNeil and his dog, by S. N. Leodhas.--A ghost at the door, by J. Balys.--The woman of the snow, by L. Hearn."
Joan Aiken has written several 'horror' collections for children. This sounds like one of hers. Some of her books were published by Puffin (could be mistaken for Penguin). Try A Foot in the Grave or A Touch of Chill.
13 Ghostly Tales by Freya Littledale, 1950s. Partial contents: Wait Till Martin Comes,The Thing at the Foot of the Bed, The Golden Arm, TheRailroad Ghost, The Trunk in the Attic, The Ghost with One Sock, etc. One story is a Scottish one about a doctor's house plagued with "bogles." There is a ghost dog story too. The best one is The Railroad Ghost, a "true" story involving the saving the life of Queen Victoria! (I wonder about that one because when I emailed London's Museum of Natural History, they said they did not have that exhibit - though the story claims they did - and gave no indication they'd ever had it.) See here for that story, modified: http://www.lutheranhour.org/stories/noaccident.htm
Freya Littledale, 13 Ghostly Tales, 1950s.Partial contents: Wait Till Martin Comes, The Thing at the Foot of the Bed, The Golden Arm, The Railroad Ghost, The Trunk in the Attic, The Ghost with One Sock, etc. One story is a Scottish one about a doctor's house plagued with "bogles." There is a ghost dog story too. The best one is The Railroad Ghost, a "true" story involving the saving the life of Queen Victoria! (I wonder about that one because when I emailed London's Museum of Natural History, they said they did not have that exhibit - though the story claims they did - and gave no indication they'd ever had it.) See here for that story, modified: http://www.lutheranhour.org/stories/noaccident.htm
Ghostly Tales, 1987.  This was a ladybird book, that I was searching for for ages, and then found it in our shed.  I always loved The Doctors Dog.

McCaw, Mabel, God's Way,  1961.  This is possibly the book you are looking for.It is a Whitman Top Top Tale, similar to a Little Golden book. The last page is a close-up of the little boy's face, with big, beautiful eyes.

I believe the compilation was called Strangely Enough.  That also had an eyeball on the cover and was a collection of supernatural horror stories.
C.B. Colby, The Weirdest People in the World, 1973, approximately.  If the companion is Strangely Enough, the one you're looking for is The Weirdest People in the World.  Some of the stories were reprinted in the late 80s as The World's Strangest "True" Ghost Stories.
Colby, C. B., Strangely enough!, c 1959, '63, '66, '72.  The original 1958 Sterling hardcover ed. had the tops of alien heads/skulls? coming over the tops of yellow, orange and purple sand dunes? with footprints and a radio tower in the background.  The 1963 abriged Scholastic paperback has the lightbulb levitating over  hands and water.  It looks like about 10 stories were dropped from the original '59 ed., though they both have over 90 stories.  I don't have the '66 or '72 eds. so I don' know if they have an eyeball on the cover.  Some of the titles are:  The Light in the Window, The lady on the Highway, The Seabird, Witchs Revenge, Daniel Abbott, Battle of the Cheeses, "Lavender", Cigar in the Sky, Yonkers Saucer, Ghosts That Followed a Ship, etc.