Books with author Mary Jane Auch

Summers with my family were almost perfect... That's when we'd go out to Whitmarsh Point, where my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins lived. We'd swim and have lobster bakes, and I'd spend all my time with my best friend, my cousin Julie. But this year Julie and I found out my mom's adopted. And she didn't even know it! She got so mad she dragged me off to find her "real" family. What a bunch of weirdos! My new grandmother dresses like Glinda, the good witch, and my grandfather's hobby is stuffing dead animals! And my mom's sister acts like a teenager, even though she's got a kid my age. Talk abot strange, he takes the cake. But he's got a plan to take me back to my real family...no matter what!

Princess Paulina needs a job. Ever since her father retired from his throne to become a carpenter, Paulina has had no use for her princess skills. When she hears that Prince Drupert, the sorry-looking son of overbearing Queen Zelda, is looking for a princess to marry, Paulina can't pass up the opportunity to put her princessing skills into practice. She passes the mattress and the pea and the glass slipper contests. But when she's faced with the task of cooking a feast fit for a prince, she fears that not even her royal lineage can save her. Readers will delight in the sly references to other fairy tales and in the goofy visuals (e.g., with a sardonic grin, a Rapunzel-like princess uses her very long braid to trip Paulina). The illustrations, representing the wife-and-husband team's first picture-book collaboration, resemble those in Mary Jane Auch's previous works—they are just as witty yet considerably more detailed. This sassy send-up seems likely to deliver a royal case of the giggles, in "The Princess and the Pizza ". Ages 4-8.

By Sunday evening Prue Tenney was despondent. She and the others in her class were supposed to write about something exciting that had happened over the weekend. All of her friends had either found an adventure or caused one to happen, but Prue had thought of nothing. Suddenly she remembered the one exciting event in her town -- an unknown young man had been mysteriously shot eight years earlier. Although he was never identified, every year, on the anniversary of his death, someone placed red carnations on his grave. Neither the mystery of the shooting nor that of the flowers had ever been solved. Perhaps Prue could make an adventure out of visiting the grave. She slipped out into the waning daylight, and hurried over to the cemetery. As she started toward the wooden grave-marker, Prue realized that someone else -- a man -- was already there. He turned and strode away. Prue tiptoed closer. A bouquet of red carnations was lying on the dead stranger's grave! This was the beginning of real adventure for Prue, her brother, and two friends, one that lasted much longer than a weekend. As in all Mary C. Jane's mysteries, the excitement and pace of her story build up to a satisfying climax. While her characters are confronted with a hidden gun, a strange woman prowling around an empty house, and a suspicious neighbor, these details fit plausibly into the everyday world of a small New England town.

In Mystery Behind Dark Windows, a young girl tries to discover the source of mysterious sounds coming from her aunt’s deserted mill. Acclaimed New England author Mary C. Jane (1909-1991) raised her two sons in Newcastle, Maine. Reading aloud to them sparked her interest in children’s literature. After the boys were grown, she returned to teaching, where she soon realized many reluctant readers could be encouraged to read with mysteries. In 1955, she wrote her first book, Mystery in Old Quebec. Many more followed, delighting her fans.

In Mystery Behind Dark Windows, a young girl tries to discover the source of mysterious sounds coming from her aunt’s deserted mill.Acclaimed New England author Mary C. Jane (1909-1991) raised her two sons in Newcastle, Maine. Reading aloud to them sparked her interest in children’s literature. After the boys were grown, she returned to teaching, where she soon realized many reluctant readers could be encouraged to read with mysteries. In 1955, she wrote her first book, Mystery in Old Quebec. Many more followed, delighting her fans.