# What three books did I read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867 "2002-12-06T05:07:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/1 "2002-12-06T05:07:20Z")
In the third or fourth grade I read three books I liked but I can’t remember the titles. Book one was a fantasy/horror involving a preteen boy and his older sister moving in with a member of their extended family, possibly an aunt or grandmother. The family member’s house was near a Civil war battlefield. The siblings visit the battlefield one day and the boy meets the ghost of a cadet that died in a battle when he was about the preteen boy’s age. The boy befriends the ghost. The boy ends up having to help the ghost get out of this world or something like that. I remember that the ghost’s last name was MacDowell or something similar. I also remember that another family member of the sibling’s had just died and that may have involved the moving. Book two was about a preteen girl and her younger brother running away and living in a museum. That’s all I remember. Book three was about a boy that may have been mentally retarded, but I didn’t recognize it at the time I read the book. He was good at untieing knots and liked baseball. It may have been a series. Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/2 "2002-12-06T05:16:52Z")
The Ghost Cadet by Elaine Marie Alphin ---
**Author:** ![Melon\_Farmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Melon\_Farmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melon_Farmer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/3 "2002-12-06T05:20:28Z")
Book 2 sounds like [From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440931800/qid=1039152081/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-3620744-9475038?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/4 "2002-12-06T05:21:19Z")
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/5 "2002-12-06T05:26:36Z")
I’m guessing Book 3 is one of my own childhood favorites, \*\*url=“[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807205958/104-0893645-9339130](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807205958/104-0893645-9339130)”]Maniac Magee ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/6 "2002-12-06T05:27:46Z")
Well, that didn’t go well. 🙂 [Let’s try again](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807205958/104-0893645-9339130) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/7 "2002-12-06T05:28:42Z")
> [@](#): > > From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg That must be the one. The cover looks very familiar. Now I’ll try to find The Ghost Cadet on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/8 "2002-12-06T05:29:40Z")
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/9 "2002-12-06T05:31:51Z")
Sorry to be answering already answered questions. [Here](http://www.vmi.edu/archives/Civil_War/ghost.html) is information about Cadet McDowell. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/10 "2002-12-06T11:34:27Z")
Good at untying knots is definitely Maniac Magee ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/11 "2002-12-06T12:05:25Z")
I’ve got no idea where you were pulling those answers from **don’t ask** , but I’m damm impressed. Wowsers! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-three-books-did-i-read/140867/12 "2002-12-10T21:32:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli I’ll have to look on Amazon for this.