The Vine: Ask The Readers Book-a-thon #10
Hi Sarah,
Seeing so many reader entries about children’s books has gotten me nostalgic for the books of my childhood. I remember a lot of them, but there were two I loved but cannot remember the titles to save my life.
One was about a boy who lives somewhere on Puget Sound and befriends a seal. I can remember very few details, but I remember generally that the boy was outside a lot, he didn’t have a lot of human friends and he liked to recline on the seal, who was described as “springy.”
The other was a fantasy about a boy and a girl (possibly brother and sister) who live in NYC but are somehow transported back to 17th century New Amsterdam, right around the time that it is transferred from Dutch to British rule. There is a scene where one of them asks for a fork and is roundly ridiculed, and there are some scenes with Native Americans trading with wampum. I think there might have been a picture of a windmill on the cover. The boy is older and is very interested in technology.
I read these books in the mid-’70s. I hope the readers can help!
Jennifer
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
The first is Sea Pup! Loved that book. By Archie Binns.
Is the NYC book The Magic Tunnel, by Caroline Emerson? Here’s a synopsis –
‘Imagine suddenly finding yourself living three hundred years ago! Sarah and John take a subway ride one day – and magically find themselves back in 1664, when New York was New Amsterdam.
How odd it is to be living in colonial times! Sarah and John are rescued by an Indian scout. They meet Governor Peter Stuvyesant. They see the English take New Amsterdam from the Dutch.
They are living in the midst of history. But all the while Sarah and John wonder – will they ever find the magic tunnel that leads back home?’
Wow! A book that I remember…no, not the important parts, but I’ll take it, today. I read the second book, and loved it. I have to find a copy for my girls. I think both of them would enjoy it for different reasons.
The second is totally The Magic Tunnel. My grandma had that book, and I remember loving it as a kid. Her copy had a bright yellow cover.
“Not even the governor himself has a fork!” Whoa. Take-me-back City, there.
Yes! Yes! Thank you so much TNers.
I had remembered that there was a windmill on the cover of The Magic Tunnel, but when I saw the actual cover, with Peter Stuyvesant and his peg leg, it all came back to me.
And Sea Pup – I live in the PNW now and really want to read the book again from the perspective of someone who knows the areas described (although they’re quite different now).
Sadly my local library system doesn’t have either book, but that’s why we have Amazon.
Yay! Nostalgia reading!