Most of the tattered scraps of my childhood book memories have been pieced together, but a couple occurred to me recently. I decided to submit them for your perusal, because I know y’all perform miracles on occasion.
The first book was about a family with two or three children who were probably orphaned. They go to some kind of market where they can choose a new mom, and they take home various types and try them out.
The second book was about a girl who gets chickenpox and during the time she is out of school, she discovers a secret drawer in the desk in her room. It contains a lock of her mother’s hair, which her mother had hidden when she was about the same age. The girl cuts a lock of her own hair to add to the drawer. There may have been a diary as well. I always remembered the title as The Chickenpox Papers, but since I have failed to find the book, that may be wrong.
The first one is The Mummy Market, by N. Brelis. It’s quite unclear how they lost their mum in the first place, but at the end, they find her at the market, only she didn’t have a theme like the others and was just sitting by herself.
Folks list what they can remember about a story and others try to answer. It costs two bucks, but it can be worth it to not go crazy. My sister and I have found several books here, and I even solved one stumper.
I’ve read the link that Baker provided, but I actually prefer the Booksleuth forums at Abebooks.com.
But I have no idea what your second book might be.