What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

/Minor Spoilers below/

Back in 6th or 7th grade in 1992 or so, right around the time my class read "Hatchet" we also read a book about a boy who spent a lot of time in the woods. I believe his grandfather (or possibly his father) had gone missing many many years earlier. The boy had a jack knife/pocket knife that he had either found at some time in the story (either in the woods, or in the cave he finds), or had for the entirety of the book, that once belonged to this missing person. The boy eventually finds an entrance to a cave and he explores it. At one "scary point" in the book, I believe the cave even flooded with water. Alas, at the end of the book, I believe the boy found evidence (or even human remains) in the cave that proved that the missing grandfather (or father) likely died in this cave. I remember really feeling like I was in the woods with him, and I believe it was Autumn as I could see the multi-colored leaves and could feel the cool air. I wouldn't call this book a "mystery" per se, but more of a boy discovering things about his past, and sort of coming of age as a result. I remember the cover had a picture of a boy in the woods in fall time, and I think it was kind of brownish/reddish in color. The title may have even had "jack knife" or "knife" or "cave" in the title, but I'm not certain. I'd love to get this book for my son, and for the life of me can't find anything about it!

Karl, I copied some book details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

Is the boy described as an orphan?

Set in the U.S.?

I don't think he's an orphan. And, yes, it's set in the US. Thanks!

No cave and no finding grandpa's remains, but otherwise several similarities: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Interesting. I'll check it out!

At first it sounded exactly like The physician Noah Gordon… sounds similar maybe the second book?
The Shaman

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00840C...


Or…


The Clan of the Cave Bear: Earth's Children, Book 1
Jean M. Auel

shucks, those aren't it either. Thanks for the guess though!

Karl, if you're up for a browse, there's a chunky list for "Caves with Water in Juvenile Fiction". (You'd be surprised how many times that's a scene people vividly remember in a YA/MG book). ;)

Children's, Juvenile, YA - Caves with Water
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Thanks for the lead! Lots of good ones on there, and many seem to be in the exact vein of the book i'm looking for, but none seemed to hit the nail on the head :(

I don’t have anything helpful to add but I swear I remember this same exact book and could never find the title/author! Definitely left an impression on me as a young reader. I will be following this thread

Daniel wrote: "I don’t have anything helpful to add but I swear I remember this same exact book and could never find the title/author! Definitely left an impression on me as a young reader. I will be following th..."

Daniel, can you remember when or where you read it? School assignment, on vacation, how old you were? :) What else were you reading then? Favourite authors? (You might know something to crack this case!)

Survival caves https://www.librarything.com/list/558...#

Google Books search
Jackknife cave woods
Year range 1970-1992

Wild Man of the Woods
by Joan Clark
https://www.librarything.com/work/217...

Free to read here: https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Joan...

ugh. close, but not these either. After school starts again, I'm going to see what I can find out from my school. All of the teachers that were there in 1992 are long retired and heck, even passed on, but I'm going to see if they can help me. This is kind of driving me nuts, haha.

Google search grandfather died in the cave book.
Trapped in death cave by Bill Wallace (1984 earliest according to worldcat.org).
https://www.librarything.com/work/543...
Trapped in Death Cave
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...
https://openlibrary.org/search?q=Trap...

unfortunately it wasn't. Lots of good ones/close ones though. I'm starting to question my memory a bit though!

There was nothing involving old spirits or ghosts, or anything paranormal. I don't believe there was any "treasure" either, other than the boy "discovers" evidence that his grandfather/father did not run away and leave the family, but was here in this cave all along.

This sounds interesting I want to read it hope you figure it out

I saw bookel already suggested this one:

"A posthumous letter referring to buried treasure convinces Gary that his grandfather did not die a natural death and, with his friend Brian, he sets out to find both the treasure and his grandfather's killer"
On OpenLibrary (it's free!), you can read and search. It has a flooding scene:
"Mrs. Becker had to struggle just to hold him up. The flood of water pouring into the pit grew deeper by the second. When Mrs. Becker held Gary up, she went down. She would hold him up for a long time, then bob back to the surface for a quick breath of air. But when she lifted Gary, water came just above her eyes."

"He knew about that gold for a long time. That was the only failing my Chancy and Gary's grandpa had. They was a couple of talkie old cusses. I reckon half the folks in the county knew they was hunting for this gold. Most thought they was just a couple of crazy old men, and they figured there wasn't any gold to begin with. Oth- ers . . . well, they might have believed there was gold hidden in these mountains, but they never figured those two old men would ever find it.

Page 126
"Odie . . . well, I reckon he was just so cussed greedy, he believed there was gold. And he had enough patience to wait around until Gary's grandpa found it. Then he killed him so he could get his maps."


BUT, I can't find a knife reference, apart from Mrs. Becker brandishing a butcher's knife.

It sounds so close! And the author also wrote one with autumn leaves on the cover:


Any chance that you're remembering a plot from one book and a cover from another by the same author? :S Maybe if they were displayed together?

Admittedly, no folding knife...

One wild good chase results for you, before WorldCat crashed on me:

"The Pocket Knife"
https://www.worldcat.org/title/841487956
Arthur B. Baron, Decatur, Michigan, 1992
73 pages, WorldCat lists "German-American, Physicians". Nothing about adventure, caves or juveniles

Did you read it in Michigan? :)

That last one (the pocket knife) seems the closest (on paper, anyways). I read it in Minnesota, so, not terribly far away. And the year, name, and number of pages are also real intriguing. But I can't seem to find out what the plot is about!

If required reading at school it ought to be from a well known publisher and marketed for children, available to school libraries too.

Annerton pit /Dickinson.
Tunnels of terror by Patricia Edwards Clyne.
Cave of Danger by Bryce Walton.

Annerton Pit
Tunnels of Terror
Cave of Danger
for bookel's suggestions above


To rule out/make mention: Almost Home - Jesse and Carmen and caves (pretty sure Jesse is female - can search book on OpenLibrary). No knife, though. But a mystery about a grandfather.
"While vacationing at her grandfather's island home, Jesse meets an unusual girl and together they find mysterious objects that provide clues to understanding the past and the present."

The Mystery of the Missing Grandfather is part of the "Tyler Twins" series (twin girl detectives). "The twins try to help three run-aways find a grandfather they've never met."
(again, just to rule it out)


If it's still not found, hang in there. You can keep threads open indefinitely, and to increase your chances, you can 'bump' the thread to the top of the list (just post) every 30 days... :)

Not giving up yet! Just searching when time permits but don't always have time to eliminate in-depth. It is useful though to know what similar books are out there to become familiar. Every time a search is done different tactics may be used to find more.

bookel wrote: "Not giving up yet! Just searching when time permits but don't always have time to eliminate in-depth. It is useful though to know what similar books are out there to become familiar. Every time a s..."

I'm personally betting on bookel unearthing it, to be clear. ;)
It's on my radar in the meantime.

another 'just in case' - but I think this is too divergent:
The Black Stone Knife: "Even though he knew it was forbidden, Wolf Boy was determined to go south with his older brother to "find the place where summer lived." This journey would prove to all the Kiowa tribe that Wolf Boy was a man. And he intended to bring back a sharp-edged, blcak stone knife, just like the one his grandfather had discoverd by the great river. The way was long and full of great adventure. There was the day the boys visited the houses of the Huicholed and saw the astonishing blue bird of magic. They discovered their first white man's town and were attacked by the frightening "people" of the trees. And Wolf Boy proved his courage - both in a daring escape from fierce Apaches and in a deadly battle with the wter monster!"

Thanks guys! I found "The Cave of Danger" on Google books and will try and read it. So far, I've seen lots of references to "caving". I don't remember ever hearing that word--at least not in middle school-- so I'm not sold. But it "feels" close.

Just checking Google Books, no mention of knife in Cave of Danger, but there is flooding. Will keep looking.

Mountain courage / Quail Hawkins Mountain Courage
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL62245......
Checked Kirkus Review, which mentioned flooding.
Checked openlibrary search inside the book, there's a knife but no mention of cave or grandfather. Probably eliminated.

Journey into Danger
by Theodora Herapath Journey into Danger
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24175...
Quick search, eliminated also.

Is it anything by Scott O'Dell, Will Hobbs, Walt Morey?

Scott O'Dell books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...

Will Hobbs books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...

Walt Morey books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list...

(I might add Jean Craighead George: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list... )

And if you feel like there's quite a lot of woodsmanship / bushcraft / survival skills, there's this whopper of a list:

YA and MG Wilderness Survival Books:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell (about a girl though).
Ghost island / Klaveness (just listing what comes up with cave "father's knife", again so similar).

bookel's links:
Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell
Ghost Island by Jan O'Donnell Klaveness

Trees, Woods, Forests list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

The king boy
Author:Judy Carole Rhodes
Summary:Benjy's childhood in rural Arkansas is enriched by the special times he spends with his grandfather, but it is not until his grandfather's death that an old family secret is revealed.

There's a pocket knife (it's on openlibrary.org) but no cave. Eliminated. The King Boy

I searched for days, nothing so far. Any more definite keywords you are sure of please write them down. How old do you think the book was, published 1992 or as early as 1980, 1970?
Have you tried English reading lists? What grade/year were you in?

First autumnal cover I have come across.
My Father Doesn't Know about the Woods and Me
By Dennis Haseley
https://www.simonandschuster.com/book...

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Bookel, I read the book in 6th grade, possibly 7th. It was 1991 or 1992, so published before that. Also, it was a paperback. I believe I read it right before we read the classic, "Hatchet".

I started reading "Cave of Danger", but only a few chapters were free. It felt quite similar, in particular, he's looking for a cave, and his dad was also dead, but Im fairly certain that wasn't it. It's also 264 pages and I don't remember it being that long--maybe half that.

Regarding keywords, I've previously used "lonely", and the like, but that only seemed to add to the confusion.

I've tried lonely. I'll keep looking. I ended up trying to think of a book I found once with a lonely boy at a cabin with a dog rearing up. Never read it but wanted to rule it out. Were pine trees significant?

The pathless woods
Not autumn-like enough.
https://www.librarything.com/work/655134

Creepy! But not it ...
Blain's Woods (High Noon) by W. Wesley Miller
https://www.librarything.com/work/179...

Have you tried searching wilderness, Canadian fiction or USA?
https://recherche-collection-search.b...

Skeleton Cave?

Bones on Black Spruce Mountain?

When searching earlier I ruled out Skeleton Cave so didn't mention it.

Alternate covers https://www.librarything.com/work/280...
Bones on Black Spruce Mountain. Bones in a cave. Plot seems to be about a missing boy though. But ... a search of snippet view on Google Books mentions grandfather.
Openlibrary.org has the book where you can search and read in context. Knife is mentioned.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15134...

Good find Rainbowheart. Crossing fingers. I have a hunch this might be it ...

(Nice one, Rainbowheart!)
There's an image of the Bantam Skylark edition (and other covers) of this on the author's website:
https://davidbudbill.com/the-bones-on...
for example:



Apparently the book Snowshoe Trek to Otter River is the 'companion' one to this.

Same characters, I think? Perhaps it might also be familiar.

Thanks for finding those images!

Fingers crossed!

Let me look into this! Of the two images above, the first one doesn't strike me because I don't really remember two kids together. The second one, although not jumping out at me, seems possible.

Also, I DID connect with an old teacher at my old middle school about this. She has worked there as an English teacher for FIFTY YEARS, and is the only teacher still even remotely tied to my time there. She informed me that "reading" and "English" were two separate classes at that time (which I totally remembered after her telling me) and I was hoping she could connect me with the READING teacher I had back then (if she was still with us!), but she didn't recall a teacher of the name I gave her! She said she'd ask around to a couple other teachers from back then that she is still friendly with, but I don't have high hopes....😭.

Oh that's very sweet! :) Hope it works out! Who knows - some people have minds like steel traps!

There's one for $7 on eBay right now:
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac...
Sorry, $3.59:
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/bones-o...

As I mentioned above and linked, you can read and borrow free on openlibrary.org. To join is free and you can see if it is the story you recall or not ...
Bones on Black Spruce Mountain, Dial, 1978, 126p., Fiction, ISBN 0-8037-0691-X.
"Seth's camping trip to a lonely mountaintop becomes a journey into a painful past that must be confronted."
Definitely sounds like a match especially when looking at "grandfather" in context. And knife.

So I ended up finding and buying "Black Spruce Mountain" off the internet. I read it, and while i'd say it was "80% of what I was looking for", it definitely wasn't the same book I'm looking for :( It was a very cool book and had a lot of the same "feels" of the mystery book.

For anyone wanting to know what i'm going through, you should check out a podcast (on the "reply all" podcast) called "the missing hit" or "the song that vanished from the internet". search for something like that and you will find it. It's AWESOME and really drives home the "struggle" to find things you KNOW exist... I don't want to spoil the podcast, but I'm thinking of employing some techniques this guy used.

In the mean time, I'll keep looking for this book....

Pity. But I'll add Bones on Black Spruce Mountain to my OpenLibrary reading list all the same - thanks for the review! :)

I will continue to keep looking, as I'm sure the others will as well. :)

Karl I spent years looking for a couple childhood books and finally found them after a lot of worldcat and Google searching, but one was unavailable secondhand nor in the library though I would love a copy. The other I could only reread as an interlibrary loan. Frustrating as I read our copies over and over as a kid. I understand what you're going through and will keep searching. I read Hatchet for school too but we didn't read anything similar except I read the sequels that were published at the time. I've always enjoyed survival juv fic. Never give up.