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Could it be this one? https://www.amazon.com/Little-Three-Names-other-stories/dp/1885772165
Edit: this is the description: "During the summer Tso'u returns home to Taos, putting aside his school name of Little-Joe along with his school clothes to take part once again in village life, to go to church--where he is known as Josâe la Cruz--to ride his horse to the sacred Blue Lake, and to participate in the Indian Ceremonial at Gallup."
It's originally published in 1940 I think it says
The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh.
You may have read it in The Puffin Book of Twentieth-Century Children's Stories by Judith Elkin.
I see that this is solved, but if you liked this book, there is one I loved when I was a kid called <em>The Dollhouse Murders</em> by Betty Ren Wright that you might also enjoy.
One of my absolute favorite novels is Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost, wherein the narrators of the second, third, and fourth sections each begin by essentially saying, 'the previous speaker lied to you, but now I will tell you the truth...'
"In 1663 Oxford, a servant girl confesses to a murder. But four witnesses--a medical student, the son of a traitor, a cryptographer, and an archivist--each finger a different culprit..." https://www.amazon.com/Instance-Fingerpost-Iain-Pears/dp/0425167720
Based on this review, it seems like After Nightfall by A.J. Banner is your book.
Edit: Link formatting
It's probably In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel, by Brigid Brophy.
>Set in an airport ("one of the rare places where twentieth-century design is happy with its own style"), In Transit is a textual labyrinth centering on a contemporary traveller. Waiting for a flight, Evelyn Hillary O'Rooley suffers from uncertainty about his/her gender, provoking him/her to perform a series of unsuccessful, yet hilarious, philosophical and anatomical tests. Brigid Brophy surrounds the kernel of this plot with an unrelenting stream of puns, word games, metafictional moments and surreal situations (like a lesbian revolution in the baggage claim area) that challenge the reader's preconceptions about life and fiction and that remain endlessly entertaining.
It is a common Asian folktale, but could it beThe Moon Maiden: Inspired by an Old Japanese Tale by Flavia Weedn?
>In this retelling of a Japanese fairy tale, a childless couple is allowed to take care of the Moon's daughter until it is time for her to join her mother in the sky
​
It might be Nobody Heard Me Cry: An Irish Boy Sold on the Streets, a Whole Life Shattered by John Devane.
>John grew up in poverty in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1960s. Fatherless, and with a family in chaos, John fell prey to the predatory clutches of a neighbour, setting off a cycle of sexual abuse that eventually led to being sold as a teenage prostitute.
>
>Against all odds, John put himself through college and became a lawyer. But there was no escaping his past. One day, a man arrived in desperate need of representation and failed to recognise John as the boy he'd once abused. Now John had a choice to make...
Edit: Amazon link
Reviewer comment:
>This book tells the story of the first nuclear bomb tests in American history, and the small communities of rural Americans and natives that lived near the facilities. One of those people is Helen Chalmers, who runs a small restaurant along a defunct old railroad line. She experiences a spiritual enlightenment just as America begins to have a technological one.
The Leaving - Tara Altebrando? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EXZRRFS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
>Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back--with no idea of where they've been. A riveting mystery for fans of We Were Liars.
Eleven years ago, six kindergartners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.
Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them.
No, but the "Jenny and Alfred" version is also by Alvin Shwartz, who wrote those. The book mentioned in the article above (and likely the one OP remembers) is this one.
It sounds like Big Man Plans, by Eric Powell.
>Revenge is a dish best served cold, and the vengeance brought to the table in this gory tale is as frosty as it is terrible. Big Man was born with dwarfism, abused by his farming family and considered a freak by everyone except his father and a childhood friend. He trades his harsh existence for life in a top-secret program during the Vietnam War, gaining lethal skills that transform him into "the tiniest version of death." Returning to the States, he becomes a bitter barfly, eventually landing in prison before a letter from a dear old friend ignites the fuse that spurs him to exterminate a pack of redneck cops in horrific ways
Maybe: That Bright Land
In the summer of 1866, Jacob Ballard, a former Union soldier and spy, is dispatched by the War Department in Washington City to infiltrate the isolated North Carolina mountain community where he was born and find the serial killer responsible for the deaths of Union veterans.
Could it be the Scholastic First Discovery books? They came out in the mid-nineties. My family had the whole set!
​
​
The Erstwhile from The Vorrh trilogy by Bryan Catling?
My Christmas Treasury? https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Treasury-little-golden-book/dp/B000M3U1F4
"The Lights on the Christmas Tree, by Florence Page Jaques, tells how Santa made the first tree, with only white decorations. It was missing something, so Santa sent the Littlest White Bear off to fetch a rainbow. The rainbow broke but they still used the pieces to decorate the tree - which is why we use rainbow-colored lights on our trees today!"
Possibly The World Mythologies Series? They all have titles based on the pattern X, Y, and Z (for example, the Greek one is Gods, Men, and Monsters). There are definitely books for Egyptian, Celtic, and Norse mythology as well. They are all lavishly illustrated. It is a bit of a long shot because the cover illustrations don't necessarily match your memory. You can see the Greek one here: https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Greek-Myths-World-Mythologies/dp/0872269116
I read this on Audible, it was on one of their “channels”. I can’t remember the name but I’ll be back!
Edit: it’s “The Book of Lost Things” by John Connolly!!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1442429348/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_z-deDbNWQH7WM
It might be Dinner with Fox, by Stephen Wyllie.
>A thin fox grows plump dining on his neighbors until an unexpected dinner guest arrives and gives him his just desserts
​
I also got that sample book. I don't remember what it was called, but I can say you did not imagine it. IIRC, the whole book club was based around the book series, and they were heavily pushing the empowerment of girls angle.
Edit: Wellspring of Magic!
Could it be "A Promise is a Promise"?
Allashua parent's tell her not to go fishing in the sea because the Qallupilluit will reach through the cracks in the ice and pull her under. But she disobeys them and goes fishing in the sea anyway. Just like her parents warned, the Qallupilluit pulls her under, but Allashua promises to bring her brothers and sisters down to the sea if the Qallupilluit lets her go.
So the Qallupilluit releases Allashua, who runs home and tells her parents what happened while they warm her up (she was pulled under the ice after all). Her parents tell her to gather up her brothers and sister and take them down to the sea. While Allashua and her siblings go down to the sea, Allashua's parents invite the Qallupilluit into their home and distract them. In this way, Allashua can keep her promise to bring her siblings down to the sea without the fear of the Qallupilluit pulling them under the ice, so they all escape the grasp of the Qallupilluit.
1984 - George Orwell Signet Classics Amazon
Even though it's solved, and I know these aren't the answers, I'll add these for the sake of people who may come here looking for a different book with similar themes.
Ender's Game has the same "third child" theme, though Ender was a legit, approved third child.
There's another book more closely related to what the OP was asking about, and it's Sea of Glass by Barry Longyear ( https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Glass-Barry-Longyear/dp/150403015X )
Sounds to me like you're mixing up Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold! and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
Are you sure they literally had the Coke logo on them? Because "coke-bottle glasses" is an idiomatic expression for glasses that are really thick, like the bottom of a Coke bottle.
The main characters aren't brother and sister, but that sounds like it could be the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. There's a scene very much like what you describe in book 3, High Wizardry. Also, two of the protagonists of that book are sisters.
Are you thinking of the children's book Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick?
[from Amazon] Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories -- Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures -- weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry.
I don't know the book you're looking for, but I read a book and its sequel in the early 80's with a similar storyline. It followed a pampered house cat named Princess who gets left behind accidentally when her family leaves their summer home. She has to rely on a feral cat named Minerva to help her survive the winter. When the family returns the next summer, Princess has to decide whether to keep living as a feral stray now that she knows how to survive, or to return to life as a pampered pet. I found them on Amazon and I guess they're now collector's items!
It's part of a short story collection called 2041: 12 Stories About the Future. I'd read the book myself back in 1997 and looked it up again recently.
The name of the story is Who's Gonna Rock Us Home? by Nancy Springer
The other stories include censors against Shakespeare, a mysterious (alien?) frozen yogurt shop, and several others.
It might be Creep Show (Eek! Stories to Make You Shriek). Here's a review on Amazon.
>Kids stay away from the old Star Theatre...seems someone died there years ago. Now a boy has a strange desire to go to the deserted theatre alone. Not only is he the only customer in the audience, he is really IN the movies on screen! He has several close calls, appearing in a dangerous surfing movie and a baseball movie. Then, he appears in something really scary..! This is the best Eek book so far; a big hit with 7-9 year old boys, especially. It's easy to read, fast-paced, and has creepy illustrations showing a regular kid in extraordinary situations. Your child will enjoy being scared over and over again.
(oh, and while searching for the book I think I came across you searching for the book on other sites too!)
A little bit of digging reveals it to be Bugs by Noel Tait published in the "little guides" series by Fog City Press.
The Silent House by Ed Greenwood?
Pendragon series by D. J. McHale. The underwater world is in the second book, The Lost City of Faar.
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Carnivorous Carnival?There was a baby sibling, Sunny who would sleep in a drawer and their “ guardian”Count Olaf was abusive and always devising ways to steal their inheritance.
This probably isn’t it... but Bill and Pete by Tomie de Paola is a book about a Crocodile and Egyptian Plover birds that I loved as a child (early 2000s)
The Doctors Book of Home Recommendations: Thousands of Tips and Techniques Anyone Can Use to Heal Everyday Health Problems by the editors of Prevention has both those quotes, but it seems to be mostly real advice.
It *almos*t sounds like Convenience Store Woman: A Novel, by Sayaka Murata.
>The English-language debut of one of Japan’s most talented contemporary writers, selling over 650,000 copies there, Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction―many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual―and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action…
>
>A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.
Is this It?
https://www.amazon.fr/r%C3%A9veiller-morts-quotidien-lOccident-m%C3%A9di%C3%A9val-ebook/dp/B01BW264GS?qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjkyIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D "Waking the Dead: Everyday Death in the Medieval West" by Danièle Alexandre-Bidon.
"On the occasion of an exhibition at the municipal library of Lyon, historians of texts, bones and images have reopened the file on death in the Middle Ages. But it is from a new perspective, opting for the everyday and the concrete, that they conducted the investigation on this now traditional subject. “From the pastoral of fear to the anxious questioning of ghosts, from the color of mourning to funeral processions, from the positioning of the body in the tomb to funerary furnishings: here, in a brief overview, is the journey offered to the reader by a work innovative, rich in facts, and which will count in the historiography of the subject” (Jean Delumeau).
I can't remember the name, but I remember an advertisement from Scout Comics talking about a very similar premise. So that might narrow it down to a publisher.
EDIT: Actually, I think it's Submerged, by Vault Comics! https://www.comixology.com/Submerged/comics-series/121217?ref=Y3JlYXRvci92aWV3L2Rlc2t0b3AvbGlzdC9jcmVhdG9yTGlzdA
Chain Letter definitely looks like it's by Christopher Pike, but nothing jumps out at me matching the other two descriptions. Maybe perusing his Goodreads author profile would help?
Haha, it helps that her name is on the sign next to her: the book is Papa, maman, désolée je suis encore en vie ("Daddy, mommy, sorry I'm still alive") by Victoire Grand.
Could it be Begin the World Again, by Bettie Cannon? The description on Amazon doesn't match exactly, but a lot of things are similar
Elementary Linear Algebra by Larson, Edwards and Falvo.
Amazon link here.
It might be Animal Stories for the very young, by Sally Grindley. There's a couple of different versions, I think, of the book, but it does have the following stories:
>Jacob's hen / Sarah Hayes --
>
>How the lemur got her tail / Mary Hoffman --
>
>Mouse and rat are saved / Judy Hindley --
>
>Hot hippos / Sally Grindley --
>
>Crocodile tears / Joyce Dunbar --
>
>And Fred / Mary Rayner --
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>Hungry Hari / Dick King-Smith --
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>Zebra running / Jenny Koralek --
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>Slowly does it / Robin Ravilious --
>
>After the storm / Michael Morpurgo.
According to an Amazon review, Hungry Hari is:
" "Hungry Hari," the largest python in the Indian jungle. He eats goats, pigs and deer, and monkeys --- but not Veneeta, whose friends call out and save her from the hissssing menace who promises, but never manages, to "sssssssswallow you."
I think it might be The Last One by Alexandra Oliva! Fun fact: she and my mom were in the same Noseworks classes for their dogs.
Boy, you got that storyline HORRIBLY confused... But I can translate it.
It's The Symphony of Ages, by Elizabeth Haydon. One of my favorite reads. It's also up to 7 volumes now.
The Other Wes Moore? The author is a successful black guy, and another guy from his neighborhood with the same name ended up in prison. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7099273-the-other-wes-moore
Not from Ancient Greece or Rome, but for similar modern works that might lead you down that path, you might look at Seven Basic Plots or the classic Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand. 1994.
'When Sweeney Cassidy, a naive freshman at the University of the Archangels and St. John the Divine in Washington, D.C., falls in with the wrong crowd, she is expelled for taking part in a lurid escapade.
The university is a haven of the Benandanti, who for millennia have guarded against the return of their ancient foe, Othiym Lunarsa, the Moon Goddess. In Hand's post-feminist tale, however, the goddess is not a comfortable earth mother figure but a powerful destroyer. The Benandanti are unaware that Sweeney's friends Oliver and Angelica are the Chosen Ones, whose violent coupling under the moon will begin to wake Othiym. Oliver kills himself, Angelica disappears and Sweeney is whisked away by the Benandanti. Twenty years later, Sweeney's summer intern at the National Museum of Natural History turns out to be the son of her old classmates, the result of that wild moonlit night.'
https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrows-Magic-New-Trilogy/dp/0375840885
This was originally published under a different title, Winter of Magic's Return. The listed publication date is for the new title only.
Not sure if it’s the correct era / date wise but Shirley Barber fairy stories might fit the bill? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visit-Fairyland-Shirley-Barber/dp/1925386015/ref=asc_df_1925386015/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500776799008&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17077263747045720225&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&...
Edited to correct author name
Okay this is a complete shot in the dark (literally, my kid just wet the bed and it’s 4am and now I can’t sleep), but something about it reminds me of whoever (I can’t find the name) did the 90s covers of the Chronicles of Narnia. Like CLEARLY this is not from Narnia, but the sloping blended edges... the fuzziness? It reminds me of those. Like I said, cannot find the name—it’s not the older internal illustrations, just the covers of those editions. https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Narnia-Scholastic-Through-Seven/dp/B0026KEGCU
I am sure this is going to prove unhelpful. Sorry.
Is it The Magicians by Lev Grossman?
Summary: Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . .
It sounds like The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.
>On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.
My thought would be the pentagon papers or this one about the author of the pentagon papers
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142003425/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_slK8Fb23P7XWK
I think you are remembering a “First Discovery Book.” There are several in the series (Bugs, Dinosaurs, etc) and they all have transparent pages that help teach about the subject. Here is the one about colors in that series:
https://www.amazon.com/Colors-First-Discovery-Pascale-Bourgoing/dp/0590452363
Believe the book is “Me and Emma”
Not quite what you described, the man is the mothers abusive boyfriend but everything else you said matches. I linked the book below
Is it Mama’s Boy by Charles King?
Edit: Amazon has a better book description.
Could it be “We are Legion (We are Bob)”. Book one of the Bobiverse? This is a major plot point
We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L082SCI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1n3HFb764EZ80
You might be looking for The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, by E.L. Konigsburg.
> Freshly rescued from a miserable experience at Camp Talequa, where she was housed with seven cruel cabin mates, Margaret is looking forward to spending the rest of her summer with her beloved great-uncles, Morris and Alexander. Little does she know, the Uncles themselves are in need of a rescue.
>
>
For the last forty-five years, the Uncles have been building three giant towers in their backyard from scrap metal and shards of glass and porcelain. But now, bowing to pressures from some powerful home owners, the towers have been declared a blight on the neighborhood. Even worse, the city council has voted to have them destroyed.
Google came up with the title "The Western World: Classic readings in international relations". It seems to be quite obscure, I can't find any pictures of it.
Edit: I did manage to find it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Western-World-Readings-International-Relations/dp/B008YJ5A5E
~~Wait, this might be it here:~~ Nvm, the ISBN doesn't match that one. The Amazon one seems to be right though
Maybe you mean The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey? And I know you've already checked, but just in case: the Dale Carnegie one that's constantly mentioned by others is How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Here are some books that might match the description of what you're looking for: B&N Arthur list.
If that doesn't work, maybe there will be something in this list on Wikipedia.
You might be looking for "End as a World" by F.L. Wallace. (Project Gutenberg has the full-text of the story).
>In front of me, old Fred Butler who drives the bus to Orange Point and King City cracked his knuckles. "He did it," he whispered. "All the way to Mars and back. Safe and right on schedule." He jumped up in the air and kept jumping up. He hadn't been that high off the ground in several years. He never would be again unless he took an elevator. And I knew he hated elevators.
>
>Factory whistles started blowing. They sounded louder than Gabriel. I wonder if he heard them. I grabbed hold of the nearest person and started hugging. I didn't know it was the snooty girl from the next block until she hugged back and began kissing me. We yelled louder than the factory whistles. We had a right.
>
>It was just like the papers said: This was the day the world ended—
>
>And the Universe began.
It's the Starfire series, primarily written by David Weber & Steve White, although some of the later novels have different co-authors than David.
[edit] If you haven't read them all, then I highly recommend reading them in chronological order, not the order they were published it.
That's not much to work on, but could it be The Belgariad, by David Eddings? The main character in that series is Garion, and he travels with an old (7,000 years!) sorcerer named Belgarath.
Could it be Darwin's Blade, by Dan Simmons?
>Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.
>His latest case promises to be his most challenging yet. A spate of seemingly random high-speed car accidents has struck the highways of southern California. Each seems to have been staged-yet the participants have all died. Why would anyone commit fraud at the cost of his own life? The deeper Darwin digs, the closer he comes to unmasking an international network specializing in intimidation and murder, whose members will do anything to make sure Darwin soon suffers a deadly accident of his own.
This is from the first few pages, I think:
>"What do you..." Dar began, and stopped. Cameron had broken the connection. Dar swung his legs over the edge of the bed, looked out at the dark beyond the glass of his tall condo windows, muttered, "Shit," and got up to take a fast shower.
>It took him two minutes less than an hour to drive there from San Diego, pushing the Acura NSX hard through the canyon turns, slamming it into high gear on the long straights, and leaving the radar detector in the tiny glove compartment because he assumed that all of the highway patrol cars working S22 would be at the scene of the accident. It was paling toward sunrise as he began the long 6-percent grade, four-thousand-foot descent past Ranchita toward Borrega Springs and the Anza-Borrega Desert.
It may have been Compulsively Mr. Darcy by Nina Benneton. Some of the reviews mention Vietnam.
>For anyone obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, it's Darcy and Elizabeth like you've never see them before!
>This modern take introduces us to the wealthy philanthropist Fitzwilliam Darcy, a handsome and brooding bachelor who yearns for love but doubts any woman could handle his obsessive tendencies. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Bennet has her own intimacy issues that ensure her terrible luck with men.
>When the two meet up in the emergency room after Darcy's best friend, Charles Bingley, gets into an accident, Elizabeth thinks the two men are a couple. As Darcy and Elizabeth unravel their misconceptions about each other, they have to decide just how far they're willing to go to accept each other's quirky ways...
This is the one! Here's a page from Born Blue on Google Books where the main character dips some rolled-up bread in a bowl of sugar and eats it.
"The City Under Ground". This page has more plot details (scroll to the bottom).
Not sure what you're asking: http://www.worldcat.org/title/robinson-crusoe-and-other-writings/oclc/434926&referer=brief_results
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card, first book of the Mither Mages series. The sequel came out last year, definitely check that out too.
This was a super tough one, but could it be Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle? Description is similar and I know you didn't have the cover, but you can see that the dude has hair growing all down his back...
In the Space Left Behind by Joan Ackermann.
When Colm Drucker's mother heads out to Las Vegas for her third honeymoon, Colm has plans of his own—organizing his baseball cards, playing guitar, and remodeling the family house as a surprise wedding present. But from the start of his week home alone, Colm, practical and adept, is faced with a series of unforeseen and bewildering events: His dog, Chester, meets an untimely death. His long-absent father calls out of the blue with a bizarre proposition. The beautiful Melanie Phelps kisses him suddenly and inexplicably outside the supermarket. When Colm learns that his mother plans to put the family home he dearly loves up for sale, he resolves to do everything in his power to save it, even if it means traveling across the country with the one person Colm never wanted to depend on for anything.
This looks likely: Mystery of the Fleeing Girl by Showell Styles.
On a cross-country hiking trip in Wales, a brother and sister meet a Hungarian girl on the run who asks for help in evading her pursuers.
http://www.librarything.com/work/1135958
aka Journey with a Secret
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/showell-styles/journey-with-secret.htm
The Metrozone series by Simon Morden.
In a dark near future, the U.S. has become a theocracy, Japan has been destroyed, and the U.K. has devolved into near-anarchy. Ph.D. student and Russian expatriate Samuil Petrovitch, living in the decaying London Metrozone, foils an attempt to kidnap a mysterious woman called Sonja and finds himself caught up in a war between Russian mobsters and a ruthless tycoon. As things escalate, Harry Chain, an enigmatic cop, and Madeleine, a sexy, violent nun, are also caught up in the war.
Where I'd Like To Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell.
A ghost saved twelve-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But it's hard to feel special when you've spent your life shuffled from one foster home to another. And now that she's at the East Tennessee Children's Home, Maddie feels even less special. She longs for a place to call home. She even has a "book of houses" in which she glues pictures of places she'd like to live. Then one day, a new girl, Murphy, shows up at the Home armed with tales about exotic travels, being able to fly, and boys who recite poetry to wild horses.
Sounds like Clifton Fadiman's World Treasury of Children's Literature!. There are 3 volumes and hard cover used copies are not too hard to find (the one I picked up last year had Volumes 1 and 2 in the same book.
Looking a librarything, there's at least one edition with the cover you've described. http://www.librarything.com/work/6398037/covers
This was a difficult search. I hope I've found it for you...
The Bloodfang Trilogy aka Wolf-Dreams series by Michael D. Weaver?
Thyri, a were-creature trained by the sorceress Scacath, encounters a witch, a clever wizard, and the implications of her true nature...
The shifter girl is named Thyri; her sister (cousin?) is Astrid. Snippet view on Google Books yields the Valkyrie: Host Fetter and Shrieking, Spear Bearer and Might, and Shield Bearer...book mentions Odin, Loki, Ragnarok, etc.
http://www.librarything.com/series/Bloodfang
Edit- more info from another site:
The beautiful Thyri had been cursed with the hated Gift of the werebeast and nothing could free her Her heart pumping wolf-blood, she lusted to kill Into an alien realm, a mystical warrior was her only Hope against the ancient evil that tormented her ... Now Thyri accepted the gift-ring of Odin and is reunited With the Nightreaver crew. But has Odin truly Smiled upon her? Freed from transformation into Wolf, she still responds to the call of battle and faces A stunning confrontation with Loki, who has escaped His chains
In the Eye of the Tornado (Disaster Zone #1) by David Levithan.
Stieg Atwood has the Sense. He can tell when natural disasters are going to hit. Now, with his parents dead, Stieg and his brother Adam must save people before disasters strike--like the twister that's guaranteed to hit somewhere soon.
Sorry, try that again:
The Heroic Adventures of Hercules Amsterdam. Please flair this as solved. (Good thing I decided to double check the title!)
You'll note he doesn't shrink, he's always tiny (but grows at the end of the book iirc) and the mice can only count up to four until he teaches them about place value. Or attempts to, but he screws it up slightly, but nevertheless it's better than the system they had before.
Wait Till Helen Comes, also by Mary Downing Hahn?
Since its publication in 1986, the deliciously frightening novel Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story has not only haunted countless readers, but has also won eleven state book awards. The spine-chilling tale begins when twelve-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother, Michael, learn that they’ll be moving to a refurbished old church in rural Maryland with their mother’s new husband, Dave, and their younger stepsister, Heather. Heather is an insufferable brat, but that turns out to be the least of the family’s worries. When she strikes up a friendship with Helen, the malevolent ghost of a seven-year-old girl who died in a mysterious fire more than a hundred years ago, things really heat up . . . and Heather’s unsettling threat, “Wait till Helen comes,” becomes a grim reality.
Not sure if you saw, but it has since been answered and it's apparently "Take Care of Yourself" by Sophie Calle. I'm going to pick it up myself I think.
This is what I'm thinking. It had a yellowish orange cover. I loved that book and tracked it down when I had my kid.
OP, here's a link to a cheap edition. If you use the "Look Inside" feature, there's a picture of the original cover.
https://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Greek-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/0440406943
It might have been We Were Heroes: The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, a World War II Soldier by Walter Dean Myers.
This preview has the scene you mentioned.
Could it be The Royal Raven, by Hans Wilhelm?
>Convinced that he's "special," Crawford the raven is disgruntled with his ordinary appearance. After making several funny, futile attempts to change, the frustrated bird entreats a woman with magical powers to give him "some color, some flash, some razzle dazzle." Wilhelm (Bad, Bad Bunny Trouble) has her pull this off masterfully, as holographic gold foil and splashes of blazing color transform Crawford's plumage into a sparkling, kid-thrilling sight. After making an ill-fated attempt at hobnobbing with the royal family, the cocky creature is banished to a cage in the palace garden, where he grows increasingly despondent until finally realizing he must lose his unnatural grandeur in order to regain his freedom. Though the shimmering feathers are obvious scene-stealers, Wilhelm's bustling, double-page watercolor art glitters even where there is no gold. As an extra treat, Wilhelm hides a tiny ladybug on each spread
Could it be either The Care and Keeping of You 2 or The Body Image Book for Girls?
Could it have been the Goddesses series by Clea Hantman? I remember reading the first book (the girls were the nine muses), but that's about as far as I got.
It might be Bad Mommy by Tarryn Fisher.
> When Fig Coxbury buys a house on West Barrett Street, it's not because she likes the neighborhood, or even because she likes the house. It's because everything she desires is next door: The husband, the child, and the life that belongs to someone else.
This sounds SO familiar. The first book I can think of is Meet Samantha from American Girl, though I'm not sure that it ticks all the boxes. I'll keep ruminating!
Something by Mercer Mayer, maybe? His art style and Maurice Sendak's are kind of similar. Like One Monster After Another?
A few options I found: Infernal, and An Unwanted and Unwilling Hero.
Your description is interesting. I hope you find the book. May want to read it myself.