# Book ID thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 23, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143 "2013-05-23T17:45:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143/1 "2013-05-23T17:45:54Z")

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This should be fun. My memories of this are so vague I’m not sure if I’ll recognize the book even if I find it, but I figure no harm in asking.

This was one of three children’s books I read in approximately 1980. One I don’t recall. One had something about a hotel and a ravine. The third is the one I’m actually looking for. The books were all written by the same woman.

I recalled the name of the book as _Bell, Book, and Candle_, but that may not be accurate. The plot involved some kids who snuck out at night to hold an exorcism (or was it a séance?) in a domed building. This might have been a state capitol building or even the US Capitol Building.

Anyone?

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143/2 "2013-05-23T18:37:23Z")

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Are you sure it was three books? The reason I’m asking is because I have a vague memory of a book with longish short stories, and one did have something about witches, and included the phrase about bell, book, and candle. I can even, for some reason, remember the poem supposedly recited by a witch as a curse.

\*Holy water, book and bell  
The black powers of blackest Hell.  
Shall not defeat me, I’ll come back  
To haunt you all  
Until you give me Christian burial.  
\*

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**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143/3 "2013-05-23T19:31:31Z")

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I don’t think that’s it, but I bet I would have liked it.

The three books weren’t related, except for being by the same author. I believe my grandmother gave them to me, saying the author was a friend of hers, and when I finished the books they went back to her. Of course, my grandma remembers nothing about this.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143/4 "2013-05-23T22:08:00Z")

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Maybe check out Zilpha Keatley Snyder? She wrote lots, was writing at the right time, and pops up on a Goodreads list for [books with a seance scene](http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/579.Books_with_Seance_Scenes).

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**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-thread/659143/5 "2013-05-24T13:38:12Z")

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I’ll have a look at those, thanks!