# kids fantasy book I remember but not title? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798 "2017-06-12T19:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/1 "2017-06-12T19:34:51Z")
Ok, the book is set in a hotel or apartment building. The building has no 13th floor. But by drawing a hatch on the floor of the 14th floor, the kids can access the 13th, which leads to all sort of fascinating adventures, such as to the Milky Way. Pirates? Memories are a little vague. anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/2 "2017-06-12T19:41:52Z")
[The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story by Sid Fleischmann](https://www.amazon.com/13th-Floor-Ghost-Story/dp/0061345032)? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/3 "2017-06-12T19:45:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story by Sid Fleischmann](https://www.amazon.com/13th-Floor-Ghost-Story/dp/0061345032)? Looks cool, has pirates, 13th floor, etc. But I read mine in the 1960’s, so this is not the one. I might buy and read anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/4 "2017-06-12T19:47:23Z")
Ah, I was gonna ask about year read/published; that’s kind of critical information. The whole “no 13th floor” thing isn’t an uncommon trope. ---
**Author:** ![ShallowEnd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@ShallowEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShallowEnd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/5 "2017-06-13T05:18:17Z")
How about The 13th is Magic by Joan Howard? I can’t find a good synopsis online best I could do is [the sequel](http://swamprabbitbooks.blogspot.com/2010/03/featured-book-summer-is-magic-by-joan.html) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/6 "2017-06-13T16:39:23Z")
> [@ShallowEnd](#): > > How about The 13th is Magic by Joan Howard? > > I can’t find a good synopsis online > > best I could do is [the sequel](http://swamprabbitbooks.blogspot.com/2010/03/featured-book-summer-is-magic-by-joan.html) Hmm, that\* could\* be it. The fact that it is OOP does explain why I have never found it again. Of course since it is OOP, I cant buy it and verify it. ☹ thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/7 "2017-06-13T16:49:09Z")
I saw that book when I was poking around yesterday, but aside from the 13th floor thing, none of the details matched with what was in the OP (no pirates, no outer space) and the kids don’t draw a hatch on the floor AFACT; instead the cat leads them to the 13th floor which is accessible only on the 13th of the month. [There are copies still in circulation at a bunch US libraries so if you want to arrange an interlibrary loan, it’s possible for you to read this book (again)](http://www.worldcat.org/title/13th-is-magic/oclc/1637653). ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/8 "2017-06-13T21:06:57Z")
A story called [“The Thirteenth Floor”](http://www.unz.org/Pub/WeirdTales-1949jan-00034) was printed in the January 1949 edition of _Weird Tales_, but I doubt it’s the work that the OP remembers. Still, I read it once and just spent about fifteen minutes Googling it, so I figured I’d share the fruits of my labor. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-fantasy-book-i-remember-but-not-title/788798/9 "2017-06-14T19:44:46Z")
[http://anne-mcallister.blogspot.com/2007/04/13th-is-magic.html](http://anne-mcallister.blogspot.com/2007/04/13th-is-magic.html) > [@](#): > > 'New York is a magic city where almost anything can happen - especially if you live on the 13th floor of an apartment house on Central Park West. Now of course, since most people are superstitious there is no real 13th floor in hotels or apartment houses, and the one where Ronnie and Gillian live, although it is right above the 12th, is called the 14th. It is not until the day they find the black cat Merlin that they discover the magical 13th floor…