Prayer by Karen Dixon Merrell, illustrated by Dick Brown, Gary Kapp, and Bob Reese
This was a tough one to find. The book was missing a couple of pages, including the copyright page. It also had a one-word title, with a common word. Eventually, google lens image search helped. An etsy listing had some photos with details. The book is s short introduction to the process of prayer and the purpose and application of prayers. It is nicely illustrated and simple and to the point.
A boy enjoys playing with a tree. He gathers leaves, climbs the tree and has lots of fun with the tree. As he grows older, he spends less time with the tree. The tree misses him. When they boy needs money, the tree offers apples to sell. When the boy needs a house, the tree offers branches. The tree keeps offering more and more of herself. Finally, as the boy is an old man, the tree is just a stump - and that provides the perfect place for the boy to sit down. The book has a beautiful narrative style that starts out very tearse with the young boy and gets more complex as he is older. He is always "the boy" even when he is an old man. The tree gives and finds joy in the boy's happiness. The boy doesn't spend a lot of time with the tree, but does keep coming back. It could be an allegory or just fun.
This book is just weird. The first half has a boy walking around asking people to help save his turtle. His turtle dies at the midpoint. Then there are random bits of grieving. The turtle is buried, but not given food. There is talk of a dead mom, life and kittens. The weirdness makes it somewhat attractive for kids.
The tale of Willy Wonka and Charlie starts out fairly "normal" and then gets zanier. Charlie Bucket lives a poor but happy life with his parents and all four grandparents. Nearby is the giant chocolate factory. One day the enigmatic factory owner announces a contest where 5 lucky customers can visit the chocolate factory. They just need to find the golden ticket in their chocolate. Charlie's grandpa makes a special purchase of a chocolate bar. Alas, no golden ticket. Later through some special luck, Charlie is able to get a chocolate bar and finds the golden ticket. The other kids are all extremely spoiled in different ways.
The chocolate factory is a marvel of high and low technology. The workers are mostly Umpa Lumpas who have been rescues from their land. They happily work and sing, but never leave the factory. There are also squirrels that manage nuts and other strange "employees". Wonka went to extremes to make sure nobody stole his ideas. These ideas included everlasting gobstoppers, gum with special powers and many more such as a teleportation TV.
The other kids ended up meeting cruel ends as they gave into their vices. This left Charlie as the lone kid remaining. He then found out he inherited the factory as he shot off in the great class elevator. The other kids had been "restored" and received their lifetime supply of chocolate.
There is a moral tale in the book, but the delivery is what makes it great.
Amelia Bedelia (1963)
Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (1964)
Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower (1966)
These are the first Amelia Bedelia book. She takes everything literally and gets in all sorts of trouble because of it. However, she is also a great cook, and the delicious food always manages to save her. The third book is a bit different. Here, it is the literal understanding of "shower" and the spray with water that helps cure a headache. The food is incidental. These originals are better than the derivatives.
What struck me now is the "not quite real" society that is displayed. The book takes place in Manhattan, but it feels very different than a Manhattan that we would know today. Harriet comes from an extremely well-to-do families, but were free to roam around the city with minimal structure. They have a cook and a nanny. Her mother has somewhat of an entitled view of coming home and having a drink ready for her. She doesn't want to worry about things. Her best friend Sport lives with a single father who struggles to work as a writer. Sport takes on a lot of household responsibility. Other children seem to be a mixture of various classes. Would these characters really intermingle at the same school? And would they also regularly run into each other out in the community. Was New York like that at one time? Or is this just a fantasy dream world?
As for the story, Harriet just can't help spying. This gets her in trouble when the other kids realize the mean things she wrote about them. Today, this would probably be an errant posting on social media - perhaps a personal snapchat that got copied and forwarded. She observes a lot of societal dysfunction, but also sees a lot of positives behind it.
The Luzhin Defense is one of Nabakov's earlier novels, originally published in Russian in 1930 and not translated into English until 1964. The title character, Luzhin is an awkward, likely autistic man who is an excellent chess player. As a youth, he does not have friends, but develops a passion for chess after he has been introduced. He reaches grandmaster level and becomes engaged to a girl (much to her parent's chagrin.) However, during a high level tournament, he has a nervous breakdown. Chess appears to be the cause of his problems, and he must ween himself from it to be healthy again. He does, and soon makes a recovery. However, he later encounters people and events from his past, eventually having his mental health fade again. 
Most of the world now lives underground. They think there is a devastating nuclear war going on above the earth. They see videos of Detroit being destroyed and of their brave leader reporting on need for increased production. However, the war actually ended a decade ago, and the people above the surface are living a posh life, with plenty of robots to help them out.
