ABANDONED. violin teacher asks student to select the violin that plays the best

[C.]

violin teacher asks student to select which of two violins she finds plays best, as he intends to give that violin to a special student. She fears he will give it to her 'rival' and so is torn between telling the truth (and helping her 'rival' get a good violin), or lying. He marks, with a red string, the violin she chooses.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

When was it published, or when did you read it? Was it a novel, or short story?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

C, are you still looking for this?

[Evan]

C, did you find the title to this book? I read this a while ago and can't remember the title either. I remember it being a short story for young adults.

[Peggy]

I have been looking for this story, also! I remember the protagonist thinking the thread they marked the violin with "should have been green instead of red--green for envy" I remember it was in a Christmas anthology for young adults,possibly Scholastic Books. I also remember one of the stories was about an Irish family that saved or found a dog on Xmas eve and didn't know it's name, and their father went through the alphabet phonetically until the dog recognized the sounds that were his name. I believe the dog's name was 'Cupid' I read it sometime in the 70's and it was fairly new then.

[Lparker]

I also remember this book! Here is what I recall:

There was a girl who loved the violin, but her family didn't have much money and they could only get her an old violin to play. Still, the girl had talent and she was chosen for 'first chair' in her school band. There was a rich girl who held the place for second chair.

One day, the rich girl's mother took the poor girl aside and said that she wanted to give her daughter a new violin for Christmas and she asked the poor girl if she would help pick the right one. So the poor girl went to the violin shop and tried all the violins. There was one that she tried that was fine- the sound was good, it was okay. Then she tried another violin, and it was perfect. It fit right into her arms like it was made for her. When she played it, it had the purest, sweetest sound. It was a violin of superb quality.

So the rich girl's mother had asked the girl to tag the violin that she thought was the best with a red string. And the poor little girl struggled with what to do- because she knew which violin was the best one, but she also feared that if the rich girl got that violin, she would be the best violinist in school and she would become the new first chair. So the poor girl put the red string on the violin that was 'just okay,' so that the rich little girl wouldn't get the perfect violin.

Then, on Christmas morning, her own parents have a surprise for her. They have been scrimping and saving so that they could buy her a nice new violin, but they wanted it to be a surprise, so they asked the rich girl's mom to help them trick the little girl into selecting the violin she liked best. So the moral of the story was that if only the girl had honestly recommended the best violin, she would have been rewarded by receiving it herself.

This story was read to my class by a teacher around 1982 and it was part of a small collection of stories. I remember the one about the dog! Although, in my memory, the dog's name was "Valentine," but it probably was Cupid like Peggy remembered. Would love to find the book again!

[Nicole]

The beginning sounded like Befiddled but Becky wasn't offered a violin by her rival's mother.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lobstergirl wrote: "C, are you still looking for this?"

No response; moving to Abandoned.