SOLVED. Early/Mid 80's Children book about kids row to island with monsters, then escape [s]

[R-R]

Hello,

I have been looking for the titles for this book for years, searching when the book bubbles to my mind again, usually turning up nothing.

OK, the book as I recall was square shaped, paperback. I was pretty sure it was titled, "Key to the Kingdom", but, when I search for that, it leads to dead-ends for me. The front of the book, from what I recall, 30+ years later, it's fuzzy, but it had the kids in a row/sailboat, rowing or sailing to a walled in thing on an island.

The plot was simple. Also, so was the text. Each page was a BIG picture, with 3-4 lines of text. Easy reading. This book was 50 or so pages. It had about the same bulk as, "Grandpa's Ghost Stories", another old favorite of mine.

The plot, from what I recall just opened with 2-3 kids sailing to an island in the distance. No back-story. 1-2 males, and 1 female. I am unsure if they already had this huge over-sized key with them. They get to the island, open the door to the walled in place, and just wander around. Nothing too eventful, just wandering an empty island. Then, the monsters come out to get them. The kids run, and get out of there. Just in time, the monsters don't get them. They lock the door behind them. Then, they get the huge key, and shove it into the boat with them, they then row/sail away, and in the middle of the ocean,sea, whatever, they chuck the huge key overboard.

I've been looking for this book for a while, as I still recall it as one of the more, "WTF?" books. Plot was very simple, and it just ended with the group sailing away again. Were the monsters living there? Did they get there and eat the people that lived there? The book has a memorable tone.

Any help appreciated. I've tried, for many, many years, but, I can't figure this one out.

[Rainbowheart]

This Is Weird

[R-R]

That's it! This can be ticked off as, "Solved".

Thanks, Rainbowheart!

The title of this book, is very fitting of the content. I asked many years ago for help, I guess on a different forum, someplace else, it led nowhere.

A family member's house had a flood in the basement 10+ years ago, where many old books were stored, some were stacked in piles on a floor. That basement was a mess, and when flooded, many old books on the floor became saturated trash. This book could have been among the casualties.

I was way off on the title, though. Now, seeing the cover of the book again, the title rings a bell. Some titles are easier to remember than others. Grandpa's Ghost Stories was another I recalled many years ago, but that was easy for me, as I did recall the title correctly. I'm glad Feral House reprinted that, so i could pick it up again at a reasonable price.

Anyway, thanks again, Rainbowheart! It's been years since I've looked through this book, and I'm curious if I'll find it as strange as I did 30+ years ago!

[Rainbowheart]

You're welcome. Glad to help out! Hope you enjoy reading the book again. If you have any other lost titles, feel free to post and we'll do our best to identify them.