What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
► UNSOLVED: One specific book
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Another Children's "our new house has more windows outside than in" chapter book (1970s). Secret room discovered after a window was left unwashed after a thorough cleaning.
The Hidden Treasure?Go to the Room of the Eyes?
The Riddle of the Lonely House?
These all have secret rooms.
Rainbowheart wrote: "The Hidden Treasure?Go to the Room of the Eyes?The Riddle of the Lonely House?
These all have secret rooms."
Thanks, Rainbowheart, but I don't think so. Not that any of them are available to read, unfortunately.
But I don't think it could be The Hidden Treasure or The Riddle of the Lonely House; neither of these appear to be about a group of children moving to a new house and cleaning it.
Go to the Room of the Eyes seems too modern and topical; an Amazon review talks about civil rights and a Viet Nam veteran. Mine had more of a Bobbsey Twins feel.
Thanks for your efforts!
Mystery of the Hidden Cat?There seems to be at least one secret room. It's a new family moving into the house and two neighbor girls who make friends with the daughter. Do you remember if the kids in your book were boys or girls or both?
I think both, but it's been a long time. As I said, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a Bobbsey Twins title. Thanks, but Mystery of the Hidden Cat doesn't look familiar. It would have been told from the viewpoint of the children who lived in the house (although third person, not first person), not neighboring children.
The Happy Hollisters?It is a mystery type series, and the kids move into a new house. The blurb mentions a treasure, but I don't know if there's a secret room.
Thanks, but it's not The Happy Hollisters (which is, oddly enough, available on KU!). Good guess though -- it's very similar to what I remember.
Do you think it's probably part of a series?I also thought of The Boxcar Children. There are a ton of those and they're all mysteries. One of them might have involved moving into and cleaning up an old house. The blurbs on GR are kind of vague.
Yes, it definitely had a series feel to it. Like I said, I thought it was one of the Bobbsey Twins book but a search of Bobbsey Twin titles proved fruitless. Then I thought maybe Nancy Drew or Katie John, but didn't find any titles with that theme. It's probably not The Boxcar Children, though; I read The Railway Children and didn't realize until later that The Boxcar Children was actually a separate series, so I never got around to reading them.
The Mansion of Secrets is part of a mystery series and there's something about a secret room and false windows, but it's not young kids moving into a new house.
Also found Eight Children Move House. It's part of a series and the kids move into a new house, but no clue about any secret rooms.
Yet another children's "our new house has more windows outside than in" book bump.
Gahhh, I know I've read one book with that plot, but I can't remember what it was.House with extra window thread 2.
If you bump my side, I'll bump you right back.Do the bump, do the bump baby.
Amber (Daisymau) wrote: "It's not The Tower Treasure."I can't find a copy to rule it out, so I'll have to take your word for it.
It *sounds* familiar, but I can't quite place it. Could it be one of Phyllis Whitney's kids/YA mysteries? I can't see if any of them might have this plot point just from the Goodreads description, but something in the description might jog your memory, if it is one of hers.
Chris wrote: "It *sounds* familiar, but I can't quite place it. Could it be one of Phyllis Whitney's kids/YA mysteries?"Thanks; I had the same result. I glanced through some on Goodreads and the Internet Archive, and while they seemed vaguely familiar, nothing jumped out at me as "this is it!"
They seemed like they were for a little bit of a more mature audience than the book I remember. Mine was more juvenile or at most MG; Phyllis A. Whitney's seemed more YA.
SamSpayedPI wrote: "Amber (Daisymau) wrote: "It's not The Tower Treasure."I can't find a copy to rule it out, so I'll have to take your word for it."
The Tower Treasure is about a group of children with the last name Tower. They live in a large house that has been in the family for years. They overhear the parents talking about selling the home because it cost too much to run. The father is going on some sort of expedition and the children are trying to think of ways to stay in the house. There was no hidden room.
Has it been (more than) two months already?Dirty window bump.
Mod
Kris wrote: "Do you think you're looking for the same book as Betsy? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."No; it's similar, but this seems to be a pretty common trope.
In my book, they didn't know or even suspect there was a secret room until they noticed that a window was not washed; there was nothing about hanging sheets as far as I can remember.
I'll keep an eye on Betsy's thread, though, since it's similar enough in plot that the right answer could easily be posted there.
It's not Samantha's Secret Room.
Rainbowheart wrote: "The Clifton House Mystery?"
I don't think it is, although I can't find an e-copy to make sure. I would have been in junior high already in 1978, plus my book felt like it was published much earlier than when I read it. Also I don't remember it being a ghost story.
Thanks! You're right; it doesn't sound the same, although I can't find an electronic copy to check.
"Why didn't you clean all of the windows?" bump.
Rainbowheart wrote: "Hex House?"Thanks, but I don't think so; it doesn't seem familiar. I can't find a copy to check, though.
Mod
Thanks, but I don't think so; it doesn't seem familiar. I can't find a copy to check, though."
Kirkus Review of Hex House by Betty K. Levine: "Moving from Kansas to a hexagonal house along the Croton, New York aqueduct with her mathematician father (a college teacher who talks more like a pompous kid, calling his family a set and ""calculating"" what to do next) and her dental hygienist mother (who measures the world against her ideal of freshly scrubbed teeth), Aggie Moon wonders why townspeople avoid the ""hex house"" and warn her against using the telescope she finds there. While her parents are working, Aggie makes friends with two orphan boys who accidentally break her bicycle and with Sister Bright who comes to tea and advises her to confide in her parents about the boys and the bike. When Aggie reports a fire and near drowning she observes through the telescope, the police hang up on her, but later they come to apologize and, as Mr. Moon puts it, supply ""the unknowns in the equation"" of Hex House. But the disclosure that the last kid in the Moon's new home had been a voyeur who had turned in a false murder report is hardly enough to explain all the intimations of evil and magic or to make the adventure -- despite the house's special physical dimensions -- more than a standard prefab story."
Kris wrote: "Kirkus Review of Hex House by Betty K. Levine: "Definitely not, thanks!
Rainbowheart wrote: "The Mystery House?"Thanks! This is much closer, but probably not the book (no e-copy available to make sure. I did read the Kirkus review). Even in the somewhat unlikely event that a neighbor kid would help with the cleaning, I remember it being told from the resident kids' POV.
I know you said that you didn't think it was a Boxcar Children book, but have you looked at Tree House Mystery? It was published in 1969. In it the kids realize there is a secret room in their new house due to a round window being spotted--even though all the windows in the house are square. They don't clean the house, but they do spend a lot of time building a tree house, and it's from there that they spy the round window. And, later in the story, they help clean and decorate the family's new restaurant with the rocking horse and other toys they found in the secret room.
I know it's not exactly what you've described, but there are enough similarities that it might be worth taking a look.
J wrote: "I know you said that you didn't think it was a Boxcar Children book, but have you looked at Tree House Mystery? It was published in 1969. "
Thank you! At last, one I could actually read.
I'm afraid it's not the book, though. In my book, they definitely found that there was a secret room by noticing that one of the windows was still dirty after cleaning "all" the windows.
Also, I'm a lot less definite about it, but I remember the discovery being close to the beginning or the book. I got halfway through Tree House Mystery and they haven't found any secret room yet.
Do you remember any particular phrases from the book?I wonder if we might have luck searching Archive.org for a combination. I tried a bunch of window-related phrases, but no dice yet.
Rainbowheart wrote: "Do you remember any particular phrases from the book?I wonder if we might have luck searching Archive.org for a combination. I tried a bunch of window-related phrases, but no dice yet."
Unfortunately no.
Thanks, Renée, but Look Through My Window is not the right book. There's no "window left unwashed" scene (that I could find).I also remember my book being for slightly younger children (children's novel rather than middle grade) and having a slightly more old-fashioned feel (similar to The Bobbsey Twins) but that's all pretty subjective.
Checking it out! The cover looks familiar, although possibly it's just the similarity to
Rainbowheart wrote: "Cupola House?The Hudson family moves to a wonderful new house with a cupola."
No luck! The kids were, at least, responsible for cleaning the house top to bottom in this one, but they discovered no secret room, let alone one found by a window going unwashed.
Thanks, though!
No prob!I'll continue to keep a look out. :)
I haven't read it yet, so this is a real shot-in-the-dark. But Denis recommended the book Octagon Magic in a Christmas thread, and it just occurred to me that the shape of the house might lend itself to secret rooms. (Aha - apparently yes: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... )Admittedly not Bobsey-Twin-esque.
(I have been adding books in this thread to the following list:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... )
I also thought of two other series worth checking - Nate the Great, and Encyclopedia Brown
EDIT: I'm assuming you've already trawled through all the other hidden room posts, but since no one mentioned The Treasure Hunters* by Enid Blyton recently, I thought it might be worth a mention. :) (I've been scouring these old threads and adding books to the aforementioned list) *15/01/22 updated to correct link.
One other guess, since I just stumbled across it:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
or here,
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
with a review by user Denzel: The secret staircase,It was someone who had a problem with something and his friend wanted to help him.Then they took a short adventure around the neiborhood look for flavors to do. During the story they found something that was a secret.
My opinion about the book secret staircase is great. I will rate it a 4 I will recommend it to someone who like mysteries. The main characters is Tom and Ricky. They face a huge problem. Then they found something that was a secret. I don't want to tell any good part because i don't want to spoil the book for the next reader. One good reason I like the book is it's a mystery and it a short story also it's something that can catch your attention fast.
The Secret Staircase (Tom and Ricky Mystery Series Set 1)
EDIT: awww damn, I don't think this is it. Apparently they do yard work, and Patches the dog bumps against a wall and opens a panel to a secret staircase. (I'm so disappointed!!!!)
https://www.highnoonbooks.com/pdfs/to...
This one has window cleaning in it:The Mystery of Holly Lane - Enid Blyton
ref: https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/b...
Capn wrote: "This one has window cleaning in it:The Mystery of Holly Lane - Enid Blyton
ref: https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/b..."
Window cleaning, but no secret room discovered thereby. Thanks, though.
And before anyone goes there, it's not The Mystery of the Secret Room, either. Or Holiday House.
Capn wrote: "I'm assuming you've already trawled through all the other hidden room posts, but since no one mentioned The Treasure Hunters by Enid Blyton recently, I thought it might be worth a mention."Capn: You've linked to the wrong The Treasure Hunters (yours is by James Patterson). Yes, I've ruled it out.
SamSpayedPI wrote: "Capn wrote: "I'm assuming you've already trawled through all the other hidden room posts, but since no one mentioned The Treasure Hunters by Enid Blyton recently, I thought it might be worth a ment..."Oh shoot - sorry about that. Will fix straightaway!
Amber (Daisymau) wrote: "Mystery of the Hard Luck House by Teri Martini?"Thanks, but it's not this one. No window-washing or secret room.
What's the Name of That Book???
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Enid Blyton (other topics)Franklin W. Dixon (other topics)
Betty K. Levine (other topics)
Phyllis A. Whitney (other topics)
I would have read it in the 1970s. It felt like it was written far earlier; I would have guessed it was a Bobbsey Twins book (I searched Bobbsey Twin titles but the one I'm looking for doesn't seem to come up).
Anyway, a family moves into a new house. I have a vague recollection of its not being a permanent move, just a beach house or vacation house, but that might be wrong.
Here's where "my" plot differs from the others: the kids spent a long time cleaning the house, including washing all of the windows. They are outside admiring their work, when some adult asks "but why did you miss that window" and sure enough, there was one that was still quite filthy. The kids then went searching and eventually found the secret room. I can't remember the significance of the shut-up room.
It's not The Four-Story Mistake.
Ten Kids, No Pets and The Steps Up the Chimney would have been published too late.
I can't find a copy of The Secret of Moon Castle to read, but I doubt it would be it; it seems unlikely that those children would be cleaning the entire house/castle themselves.
It's not The Diamond in the Window.
In my book, they definitely found that there was a secret room by noticing that one of the windows was still dirty after cleaning the windows thoroughly, not by noticing an extra window per se.
Thanks for any help!